


Order and Pandemonium

by Verst (notverstandkampf)



Category: Eddsworld - All Media Types
Genre: Blood and Gore, Blood and Violence, Character Death, Children of Characters, Dystopia, Explicit Language, Fan Characters, Gen, Genocide, Implied/Referenced Suicide, No seriously it's a war fic theres a lot of violence, Time Travel, WTFuture, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-12 01:43:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 50,782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28502433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notverstandkampf/pseuds/Verst
Summary: When war-torn Europe falls under a vicious dictator, Edd Gold is left picking up the pieces.Follow the social medias for extra content and art: https://linktr.ee/orderandpandemonium
Kudos: 11





	1. Long Time No See

Rain pitter pattered on the windshield in a soft drum. The low grumble of the car mixed with the muffled whistling of the wind against the windows made the air feel calm. But he couldn't feel relaxed. Anxiety bubbled inside of him, his toes tapped impatiently and he couldn't focus on one thing on the road for too long. Playing music would be too much, but being alone with his thoughts wasn't much better. He didn't know where he was, the long stretch of road ahead of him was completely unknown. He was in a new town, one that looked much nicer than his. The houses were taller than they were wide, with large paneled windows that stretched from floor to ceiling. The roofs were built in nonsensical shapes, and opulent gardens decorated the front yards.

Edd sighed, there was no turning back now. He scheduled this meeting two weeks ago, and ever since his nerves have been uncontrollably wild. He hasn't seen or talked to Matt in nine years, and it was for that reason that this trek to his new house seemed to go on for ages. Truthfully, he had no idea what he had done in that length of time, once Edd moved into a house with his new family an hour away from him, they drifted apart. He tried everything in his power to keep them as strong as ever, but adulthood had done them a disservice, and their lives were just too busy. Then it became awkward to talk, then they didn't at all. It hit the hardest when Edd tried to call Matt only to learn he had gotten a new number, and the realization that there was barely a way to contact him anymore sat heavy in the back of his mind. Someone who was once a friend, now a distant memory. But he had a job, and a family to take care of now, and life went on. Until a month back, Edd discovered a familiar face on social media. He sent a friend request, and he accepted. He was too nervous to say anything, in fear it would disturb the odd tension between a lifelong friend. But as soon as he gave the first word, Matt was ecstatic to talk to him again. He not only agreed to meet with Edd, but insisted to see each other as soon as possible. So now was that day, and Edd didn't know how to feel.

Matt's driveway was long and twisted into a multi-car garage that was separate from the house. It looked newly paved with thick black asphalt that felt smooth against Edd's rickety old tires. The sun was setting behind the house, and the golden outline shone against the back, making it look like some sort of holy place. It was gorgeous and obscenely high-end, just like Matt was. _Yeah, this is definitely the place,_ Edd smirked to himself. The lights were already on in multiple rooms, one being what looked like the kitchen from far away. As Edd crept closer, his nerves fired up fast, he really didn't know what to say to him when he answered the door. He had no idea what life was like for him now, and Matt was no help on the phone. He insisted when Edd asked how he was doing that, "I'll tell you all about it when you get here! I can't spoil anything!"

Shutting off the transmission, Edd drew in a deep breath. How could he be so nervous about someone he knew inside and out? It seemed like only yesterday they were passing silly notes to each other in class, worried the teacher would catch them goofing off. He struggled to find the doorbell, the house had that fancy modern twang where things didn't make much sense. He cursed Matt under his breath as his eyes frantically searched around the doorframe. Then, his eyes fell on a sneaky circle in the frame and pushed it. The button pressed and sent a baritone of welcome through the house signaling his arrival. On the other side of the door, hurried footsteps came to meet the entrance. They were light and bouncy, and as the door opened Edd looked down to the small figure of a little girl. Her expression dropped as she peered up at him, and she visibly gulped. She twirled her finger through a lock of her auburn hair, "Hello?"

"Hi little one," Edd tried to soften his voice to ease her fear of the stranger. "I'm here for Mr. Hargraves, can you get him for me?" He was going to use Matt's first name, but he was unsure if she would recognize it or not. The presence of the child was puzzling, she didn't look any younger than ten, so it must be a relative of his. But Edd thought he knew Matt's family intimately, and he struggled to think of which baby in his family would be her age until she turned and shouted as she walked away, "Dad!"

 _Dad?_ Edd echoed. _There's no way!_ The math didn't make any sense, she would have to be at least nine if Matt had her the year they broke apart, but he wasn't seeing anyone then... He heard a familiar voice speak to her from the other room, and as Edd tried to see where it was coming from, he took in the first full view of the inside of the house. If it wasn't made incredibly obvious to Edd before, it was a smack in the face now that Matt became very well off. A wave of intimidating jealousy washed over him as he saw the display of riches around him. Paintings, small sculptures, fancy trims on the walls, decorative vases, mirrors, it was almost ridiculous. One vase he immediately recognized from being in Matt's room a long time back when they lived together, Edd couldn't help but smile, _a hoarder never gives up his trinkets, huh?_

"Edd!" Matt's voice boomed and bounced off the walls of the foyer, snapping him back into the present. Matt was walking over to him with wide open arms. Smiling like an idiot upon seeing him, Edd fought not to run up to him but instead greeted his hug calmy. He accepted the warmth from his best friend with overflowing joy, Matt really didn't change much at all. Other than dressing more formally, he still wore the same color palette as he always did. A soft lilac sweater over a white button up shirt made him look like a much more grown up version of himself, but his hair spiked up with wax made him look just the same to Edd. "Oh good buddy how I've missed you..." Matt said quietly over Edd's shoulder before breaking their embrace.

"Jesus, Matt. How long has it been? Are you eighty yet? Where are all your grey hairs?" Edd joked, but he was well aware of exactly how much time they've spent apart. The guilt rose up in his throat again, and he couldn't quite process that the man he once saw every day was now beginning small talk with him as if they were only work acquaintances.

Matt laughed, "don't you dare joke about that, I'm not that old am I?"

"Nah, you don't look like a day older than the last I saw you." Edd ensured.

"Here, let me take your coat." Matt offered and held an arm out. Suddenly an insecurity sparked out, Matt looked perfectly well put together, bright and proper, but Edd was showing his age quite clearly. He hadn't shaved in a couple weeks, allowing his whiskers to grow unkempt. He wore the same heavy black trench coat any time it got a little cold, and his shirt was worn. He had really let himself go in the past decade, and against such a properly made companion, it was absurdly clear that Edd looked like a complete mess. _No wonder his daughter was scared of me..._

"So, a little girl, ey? When were you going to tell me that buddy?" Edd snarked as Matt hung his coat in a nearby hallway closet.

Matt showed him a beaming smile of pride, "not just one, five!"

Edd nearly choked on air, "five? When the hell did you have time to pump out all that?"

Matt waved him over to the room next to the foyer. It seemed like one of those rooms people with big houses have where it functions as a living room, but no one really spends time in it. Picture frames littered every flat surface he could see, he recognized a few members of Matt's family, and on one table, an old photo of the two of them with Tom.

Matt grabbed a frame and held it up for Edd to see, he pointed at a blonde man standing beside Matt, "this is my partner, Danny, he's at work right now but he'll be home soon and I can't wait for you to meet him!" Edd looked up at him impressed. Matt always seemed like such a hopeless romantic, he was glad he finally seemed to end up with someone. Moving his finger to the same little girl he met earlier, Matt introduced Edd to the rest of his family, "this is Robin and her brother Roy." Roy was in Robin's likeness, just a little older. "This is Tatianna," he motioned to a smaller girl dressed in pink, "Demeter, our oldest," Matt paused on the teenager's name. His smile cracked a little and Edd noticed him start to stare, something wasn't right, but before he could say anything Matt moved on, "and our newest addition, Rain." He finished on the baby he was holding in the photo. Edd took in how happy everyone looked, their shining smiles so genuine, for a moment he wondered if he would ever experience that again. He reminded himself again of this Demeter girl and how it caused Matt to act that way, he decided maybe now wasn't the time to bring it up, but he was sure to find out before he left.

Matt showed Edd to the proper living room and they sat down. He left for a moment to get them both a glass of wine, and Edd had a moment to reflect. Matt simultaneously seemed like a different person yet exactly the same. He was much more...humble, he was glad to see that he could be just as cheery and excitable as he always has been but still be mindful of others. He was so grateful that Matt was so happy to see him again, what if he never saw him again after they drifted apart? Edd couldn't say that the distance made him as happy, and he wasn't excited to update Matt on how his life had gone south since.

"So enough about my daughters, what about yours? Amy's what, ten now? Oh! She and Robin should be friends wouldn't that be so cute!" Matt entered the room with two glasses of rich red wine.

Edd took a sip, "ah, indeed she is, and they should." He tried to ease into the subject slowly, still unsure how to go about it.

"So you and Stacy decided to only have one?"

"Yeah..."

"How is she? You should have brought her, I miss her too."

"Ah...yes, well, about that..." Edd took a bigger drink of the wine, wishing he would loosen up already. "Stace and I split up a few years ago."

"Oh," Matt's face dropped and flushed hot with embarrassment. "I'm really sorry to hear that, you still see Amy right?"

"Yeah, I got weekends," he avoided Matt's glare. It was awkward having the worst parts of your life displayed in front of someone who seemingly had their life put together in all the ways he didn't. "Don't feel bad though, it wasn't too rough for us."

"Any particular reason why?"

"No, just, things didn't work out. I'm getting on just fine though," he lied. He didn't know what the point was to lie about something like that. Edd knew he could trust Matt with all of his demons, but maybe it wasn't a good idea to lay out all the bad on the table so quickly.

"Hey, well, you have me now," Matt smiled at him, his voice came soft and understanding. "And this time, I won't let us lose contact again, not ever! You're stuck with me until we're in retirement homes."

Edd allowed himself to relax more, it felt good to be around someone so positive. There was such a charm in the way Matt would be so optimistic, it seemed like he could brighten up any room he was in with his sunshiny attitude. It was refreshing, even when talking about something not so cheery, to have someone who wouldn't judge him and could bring a smile to his face with ease. As they talked over their wine, Edd told Matt the story of the divorce, the seemingly endless paperwork, the court dates, the pricey lawyers. And as he did, he grew much more comfortable with Matt, it was like they were never apart. His bad mood fled with time, and soon enough they were laughing over nothing like young adults again.

"I tell you, I can definitely wait until Amy becomes a teenager, I don't want to be in the position my father was in when we did the stupid shit we did!" Edd laughed, referring to old memories the boys shared.

"Tell me about it, how would you react if she came home and told you that she and her friends set fireworks off inside a trash can too close to the neighbors' house and it set their lawn on fire?"

"I remember your mum's face so clearly! Oh, to be sixteen again." Edd finished his third glass of wine. "Hey, didn't you say your kid was sixteen? Better watch out, she could be a troublemaker like you were."

"Right..." Matt trailed off, his expression fading.

Edd took notice of his tone shift, and he thought now was a decent time to bring up his suspect from earlier, "is there something wrong?"

For a second Matt didn't answer, it looked like he was finding the words to say. Edd thought for a second maybe he shouldn't have said anything, but before he could take the words back, Matt looked back up to him, soreness in his eyes. "Something very bad happened a little while ago," he began. He looked thoughtfully at the ground and shifted his sitting position uncomfortably, struggling to figure out how to go on. "I-I'm not sure how to tell this story to you, it's a little... _political_."

"What do you mean?" there was caution edging Edd's words.

"How do you feel about the Red Army?" Matt said bluntly, not giving any hints of his own feelings towards the matter. The Red Army, the name itself sent a rock to the bottom of Edd's stomach. What _didn't_ he feel about the Red Army? Fourteen years ago, everyone's lives changed when a group of vigilantes who dubbed themselves 'The Red Army' assassinated England's officials and swiftly took over the country. Taking the crown out of power, their wrath swept the nation with chaos, violence breaking out every day in major cities. Stories of protestors being murdered en masse littered the news, and over the course of that year's summer, a new government was set into place. A dictatorship ruled by someone Edd would never expect, someone he knew personally. Since, England has only gotten worse over time. While it was rough at first, the Red Army quickly dug its claws into the flesh of modern English society as they knew it. A police force gathered, a ruthless system run by pseudo-soldiers who used death as a primary tool, a new controlled source of media that biased towards propaganda foremost, and a prison system that focused on punishment and torture rather than rehabilitation. As technologies advanced, so did the control. Robotics were now the norm, and holograms displayed ads everywhere you went. Economics were dominated by digital governmentally tracked transactions, and banks became increasingly insecure. Taxation rose, pushing class boundaries further into polarity, causing a rift in social norms. War broke out between nations, and over the course of the army's rule, Norway, France, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Denmark were all taken over as what was now called "The Red Nations." Currently, The Red Nations are at war with Czechia on the eastern front and America on the western front. It was predicted that Czechia would fall by the end of the year, but things were always uncertain. It seemed impossible that such a small rebel group could snowball into an unstoppable brutal force that wreaked havoc on all of Europe, but that's just how life was now. Neighbour turned on neighbour, because if you spoke out against the establishment, there was a chance you would never be heard from again. Where Edd stood on the matter was obvious, he didn't like the oppression. He thought that everyone felt the same, but over the years he had begun to lose faith in those he trusted, as they began to believe the government's lies. Either that, or his loved ones didn't trust him enough to say how they really felt. One thing's for sure, they would never silence him. Could it be that Matt also wasn't a slave to the big brother?

Edd wasted no time voicing his radical view, "they can kiss my ass, I'm not afraid of any make-believe 'soldiers' marching in the streets with their toy guns and superiority complexes. Why?"

Matt seemed relieved, and gave a smile half to himself. There was something that set apart the two of them from the average belief. The knowledge they shared was something special to them, and the fact that they felt the same way sent a wash of relief over them both. "Besides the obvious, the army has affected my family in a way I can never forgive," he looked out the window, hurt clouded his eyes. "Four months ago, June 15th, I'll never forget the date, an enforcer came to my door asking for Demeter." Edd recognized the term, enforcers was a slang term for the Red Army's police force. Not quite the same thing as a soldier, but a corrupted police officer on a mission to stamp out those who spoke ill of the Army or its members. Matt went on, "they told us she was being arrested for conspiring against the government. They told us that she was planning a vigilante heist with an online group of teenagers to damage government property."

"Was it true?"

Instead of answering his question, he continued, "I told her that they couldn't arrest her without showing me proof. But they busted in anyway, they took her from her room and put her in handcuffs. I tried to do something but they threatened to shoot me if I attacked them. She...admitted to it. She swore at them, kicked and screamed, and I couldn't do a fucking thing. Just as quickly as they came, they took my daughter away." Matt took a moment to breathe, it was clearly still hurting him as if it happened yesterday. "I looked at her computer and it was all true, I found documents about conspiracy theories and chat rooms where they were planning to go to city hall and set it on fire. I found designs for posters she was going to make. I had no idea any of this was happening. And now," he looked at Edd straight in the eye, a menacing glare that was so unusual for him unnerved Edd a little. "We're on a watchlist. They think we're a dangerous family, and an enforcer comes by once a week at different times to check up on us so that we are always taken by surprise. Sometimes even in the middle of the night. We have no idea where she is now, and my family hasn't known peace since."

"Jesus Christ, Matt..." Edd allowed the silence to still the grief that sat between them. "I'm so sorry that happened to you."

"It's alright." Matt lied.

"Do you think she's...?"

"Dead?" Matt finished, "I don't know. I try not to think about that, but my heart tells me she's still out there, probably in a cell with others like her." There was an awkward silence that followed. When he noticed the wine bottle was emptied between them, he slapped his knees and stood up. Holding out a hand to help Edd up, he said, "come on, no more heavy subjects! I want to show you around."

They continued into the various rooms of Matt's house, chatting about small details of their designs. Soon enough the discussion of Demeter was buried and the mood was brightened once more. But Edd's mind was still brewing with thoughts about it, Matt's daughter was a conspiracy theorist. He wondered what kind of things she knew, what those documents were about, and how the Army tracked her down. Where would she have gone? Could there be some secret prisons made for people who did these types of wrongs? A certain guilt clutched his stomach hard, he held the same dramatic views as Demeter seemed to, and their mutual curiosity of the government's corruption fueled their rage. But Edd was luckier, he had never been reprimanded for his opinion. The worst he's gotten was strange or scowling looks from family members or strangers at the bar. There were a few times where he would get a disapproving tug on his shirt from his now ex-wife when he went a little too far on his political rants with others. But that's all it was, ranting. He never considered that there would be greater consequences for this treason, punishable by inhumane crimes like abduction and predictably death. He thought of his own child, what would he do if Amy was taken away from him? He wouldn't let it happen, _no stupid enforcer could step foot in my house without getting clocked._ But he was in the presence of someone who had gone through such trauma, and his thoughtful speculations were nothing compared to the pain of losing a child that Matt, his best friend, had suffered. He knew that no matter how much he was going through with the divorce and job troubles, Matt's seemingly perfect family had their issues too. It wasn't right to feel jealous of their wealth, their wealth was nothing compared to the tightly woven love between its members. He hoped that he would be a part of that with Matt again, that he could help him through this, and together they would solve the mystery of his stolen child. They were walking through the upstairs hallway when Edd spotted a familiar portrait on the wall. It pictured the two of them with Tom, standing together smiling. Tom was on the left, leaning up against the railing of a bridge, Edd in the middle taking the picture, and Matt's arm around Edd's shoulders, the sun setting behind them. He looked so much younger, just barely twenty-two at the time, their smiles so genuine. Edd stood in front of it for a moment, he hadn't seen this picture since Matt moved out of the apartment complex all those years ago. "I'm surprised you still have this."

"You're joking right?" Matt giggled and stood next to him, admiring the frame himself. When Edd didn't answer, he added, "I'd never let it go. Those are the greatest friends of my life right there."

"You still talk to Tom?" Edd cocked his head to the side.

"Ha, no. I didn't mean that. You mean you don't either?"

"No...I lost contact with him a long time ago."

"But I thought he stayed in the complex after we moved out? I thought you hung out all the time."

Edd shook his head. "No, well, _yes_ he did stay after we left. About three-ish years after we stopped talking, Tom lost his job and had to move in with his cousin in London I believe. Or was it a friend...I can't remember. But, after he moved I called him once and he just never talked to me again after that. It was very abrupt."

"That's so strange, I hope he's okay."

"He was having phone issues at the time, and he kept mentioning he was going to get a new one, so when he stopped answering I thought he got a new number, but he just never called me back. I still don't know why." What Edd didn't include was how much it hurt Edd at the time. His daughter just turned two, and it was like Tom was an uncle to her, he would come over almost every weekend and spend time like he was an essential part of the family. Where did those days go?

"Where in London did he say he was moving to?" Matt asked, interrupting Edd's spiral of thoughts.

"I don't think he ever said."

"You were that close and he never told you where he was going?"

"If he did I can't remember. It wasn't that big of a deal at the time, I thought I could just visit him soon. I didn't think it would be important!"

"Hm, well...I guess this means he would rather be left alone." Matt sighed sadly. He looked up at the picture again and let his thoughts slip out. "I guess it'll never be like that again, will it?"

"No, probably not." Edd said coldly. The reality of the statement was one he had been dealing with for a long time, he was numb to the fact that the days only go by faster and he can only get older. "If only we knew how good those days were while we were living them. Don't you remember how we were feeling at the time?"

"Ah, no. Not really. I remember we went to the beach right?"

"Yeah. Two weeks after Tord moved out. We were twenty-two." The name hung in the air.

"Oh, that's right. It was you who took us out wasn't it? To cheer everyone up? I think you were the only one in need of cheering up though." Matt punched him in the arm at the joke.

"Yeah, and look where we all are now." Edd said melancholically.

"Hey, it's okay! We have each other now. He has his own life now and he is free to do as he wishes, and that's not our concern anymore." Matt tried to be the voice of reason, but Edd wasn't convinced.

He shrugged him off, "if being a dictator is what it means to be free then I'm not sure."

"I was talking about Tom." Matt crossed his arms and looked at him unimpressed. It seemed like he was offended that Edd assumed he felt bad for the other member of their team. Either that, or he was upset that Edd did, he couldn't tell either way how Matt was feeling.

"Oh."

"Listen-" just as Matt was about to continue, they heard someone coming through the front door. Joyous noises of children followed and Matt's expression changed. Almost like he completely forgot what they were talking about, Matt urged Edd downstairs to meet the missing member of the house.

A few hours passed, Edd started to grow weary as the moon shone high above the sky and people across the neighbourhood started shutting off their lights. The three adults sat at the dining room table talking about unimportant things. He mostly let Matt and his husband talk, the alcohol started to take a toll on him. He was grateful that Matt had been so hospitable tonight, allowing him not only in his home, but meeting his family that clearly meant the world to him. This trust touched Edd, even after so many years apart, he was trusted. Overall, Edd was impressed with how well Matt was doing. It made him happy seeing how well he got on, a family, and in their conversation he learned that he became a small business owner. Such a thing was next to impossible in the current climate. He admired how well he could handle the struggle, admittedly Matt was a lot stronger than Edd thought he was. Maybe because he hadn't had the opportunity to see him flourish for himself, but either way he was glad that he was healthy. He couldn't help but stifle a yawn as his fatigue grew. Matt seemed to take notice and pointed it out, "getting tired, Edd?"

"Yeah it's getting to be around that time, huh, I should probably get going-" Edd groaned as he started to get up. Before he could stand, Matt outstretched his arms and urged him to sit back down.

"Nono, you're not getting behind the wheel with wine in you."

"Oh! Don't worry, I didn't have that much, I'm fine."

"No, you'll have to stay the night, that's okay right?" Matt turned to Danny and he nodded in agreement. "It's already settled then, we have a guest bedroom for a reason!"

 _Of course you have a guest bedroom,_ Edd thought, but he didn't resist. Soon enough, they said their farewells as Matt pushed him in the doorway. There wasn't much in the room, it was simply decorated but it didn't bother Edd too much. _It has the right touch of Matt._ He frowned, eyeing an expensive looking mirror on the wall close to the door with raised eyebrows. He let out a sigh he was saving and slipped off his shirt and tossed it on the floor next to the bed. There was a lot to take in. Things seemed to be so different and yet the same as it always was. It was easy to talk to Matt, like it always has been, but the circumstances were so different. His unmatched charm continued to sparkle in his eyes when he spoke, and his prideful remarks made Edd chuckle when he thought of them. But at the same time, hearing about all the things that kept them apart for so long was draining. Work, family, money, politics, business, taxes, all these things seemed so boring as opposed to all the adventures that they used to go on all the time in their brighter youth. How could they let the grey angst of adulthood cloud their fun? He allowed it to happen, he could have reached out at any time but he let the ticking clock of age march onwards, forcing himself into the same schedule of work and sleep. He allowed himself to break his own family, the one he loved to leave him, his own child to be limited to two days a week. _Wait a minute,_ Edd looked up from the floor suddenly as his phone lit up and buzzed, _it's Saturday tomorrow isn't it?_

He rushed over to the phone and read the contact name. Immediately upon viewing it, his heart sank, realizing the mistake he made. "Hello?"

"Hey. I'm going to be there at about eleven tomorrow, everything's good?"

"Ah, about that...I'm not home right now, actually," Edd cringed at himself. Heat overtook his spine in embarrassment, he had been too careless.

"What? Where are you?"

"Matt's, surprisingly."

" _Matt's?_ Like, Matt Hargraves?"

"Yeah, it's a funny story actually," Edd began awkwardly as he got into the story of him getting into contact with Matt and the venture of today. "So he insisted I stay overnight because of the alcohol, and I couldn't drive so that's where I am now. I'm staying in his guest room, it's actually very cozy, very him, as you could expect-"

"O-okay, that's very nice, but what about our daughter? What time are you going to be home tomorrow then?"

"Um..." he didn't know how to proceed. "Well I'm not sure when I'll be up and out, you know?"

She huffed, clearly annoyed, "well, I have somewhere to be too, can you be there by one?"

Edd looked around, mulling it over in his head. No matter what, his duties as a father come before friendships. No matter how much he wanted to spend time with Matt and return home to the stress and emptiness, the world just wouldn't allow it. "What if I picked her up on the way home? Less driving for you."

"Are you suggesting I leave her home alone until you decide to show up?"

He pinched his nose, getting impatient, "I'll be there, I just think it'll be more convenient."

"It sounds like an excuse for you to be late to me. Seriously, you're going to drive up hungover at who knows what time? I can't be-"

"I'll show up, Stacy! Jesus, I won't be hungover, do I sound wasted to you? She's ten, she can handle being alone for twenty minutes max while she waits for me. Just go do what you need to do, I'll be there, _I promise._ " Through gritted teeth, he growled in annoyance and hung up before she could argue further. _Why do you always think I'm some lowlife drunk? You just happen to catch me all the times I drink._ Distracting himself from the melodrama between him and his ex, he scrolled through his contacts. Scrolling past his coworkers and family members, he finally landed on the longest lasting collection of numbers and names. Matt's old number was still attached to an old photo of him holding a glass up with a wide smile showing his teeth from a new years party. He smiled to himself and scrolled past it. A little further down sat the one he was looking for, Thomas Bridgewell. The contact picture was nothing more than a blurry image of him playing the bass, his hair a blurred mass of light brown as he rocked his head to whatever music he was listening to at the time. His thumbs grazed over the number and without thinking he called it. He stared blankly at the screen when it was immediately disconnected. _Oh Tom, where are you..._ Edd sank under the sheets of the guest bed and hung his phone high over his head. He fought the thought, but he knew there was only one other person who might have had a lead.

"What is it," she sounded unimpressed.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hang up on you earlier." Edd put the phone on the bed next to his ear and ducked his shoulders under the covers.

"It's fine." Stacy's voice stayed flat.

"But I was wondering something," Edd started. "When Tom moved, do you remember where in London he said he was going?"

"You didn't really call back to apologize, did you?" When Edd didn't reply, she sighed, "that was years ago Edd I don't remember a detail like that. Besides, it wouldn't matter anyway after the rezoning. I don't know where anything in London is anymore."

"Are you sure? You don't remember him saying _anything_ about where he was going?"

"You're his best friend, why don't you know?"

"I..." Edd struggled to find words. "I don't know."

"Goodnight, Edd." Stacy finished, not wanting to continue the conversation anymore.

"Night." Edd went to hang up, but the beep of the ended call prevented him from doing so. He let the phone screen go dark on its own as he stared up at the ceiling. He tried to grasp at the long buried memories of when Tom left. The boxes, the moving trucks. But big blank spots blocked out most of that time. Tiny shots of Tom managed to come through, he was acting so strange and it all happened so fast. He was out and gone within a matter of two weeks. It was so wild that he could have just got up and left so suddenly, and it seemed like he never said goodbye. Edd took it to mean that it _wasn't_ goodbye. It didn't feel like one, he would just see him that very weekend. He would help him move out of the apartment building he once lived in himself and talk that night. But he didn't, it never happened. He wasn't just busy, he was gone for good. Matt's words echoed in his head, they didn't feel right. Edd thought he knew Tom inside and out, if he secretly had an issue with their friendship, there was no way he would be able to hide it from him. If he was struggling with work, Tom would have complained about it. Nothing fit, and if Edd could get into contact with Matt so easily, maybe Tom could be the same. It was decided then, Edd closed his eyes and said quietly to himself, as if it was a personal affirmation, "Tom. I'm going to come find you."


	2. Pursuit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

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A church bell rang somewhere off in the distance, marking the third hour past noon. Tom looked up from the ground and followed the sound. The streets of London were just as busy as they had been, the ground puddled with rain from earlier that morning. The breeze fought hard to bring winter early, but it was still months away, and the leaves were still green in the middle. Still, everyone wore thick jackets and huddled close to themselves. He held his cheeks against the collar of his coat, his warm breath kept his nose from freezing. It was hard to keep his face from getting frigid, the metal around his eyepiece felt like ice and stung the skin around it. It was hard to stay under cover, he was a pretty recognizable figure. He had a feature no one else had, which was why he made sure to not face the streets as he turned down the nearest alleyway. He spotted it at once, a flyer that was tacked to the brick. It was older, its edges worn away and stains of the repeated cycle of wet and dry left it wrinkled. _This will be my last one for the day,_ he thought, _the last one, then I'll go back._ He scanned the sheet for a date, and found the stamp in the bottom right corner. The print was a few months old now, the design only a little outdated. Tom stared at the face of his enemy, he was portrayed in a cartoonish fashion, giving a thumbs up to his viewer, his smile intended to be genuine, kind, and caring. But Tom knew what was underneath, he cringed at the lies before him, the poster read in big text, "HELP KEEP EACH OTHER SAFE! FOLLOW DIRECTIONS!" Below it, a smaller, softer font explained to the viewer, "RedBots™ are here to help and keep our friends and families safe and snug. Our well regulated team is very well programmed and goes through extensive training to ensure they make the best decisions when it comes to our health. Trust in them, and let them do their jobs! Interfering with their work can lead to serious injury, just sit back and relax while we do all the work!" Accompanying the text, pictured is the famous mascot of the dictator with a wrench in hand, next to him is a police robot with its back plate opened and wires sticking out. With an exaggerated smile, he works on the robot and ensures the viewer that he will keep them safe. Tom narrowed his eyes at the figure and slid a paint can from his pocket. Looking around quickly, he saw no one bat an eye as he shook the can. Waiting for a moment where no one was walking past the entrance of the ally, he drew a crude circle over the reassuring face of his tormentor, thick drips of the paint melted down below him. The bright blue hue was a stark contrast of the monotone red scale of the poster, making it stick out like a sore thumb against the brick. What was once a normal view of propaganda was an act of defiance that was hard to ignore.

Tom took a step back, his train of thought was interrupted by a high pitched clank of something knocking over to his right. Startled, Tom defaulted to a defensive stance, only to see a rat crawl out from behind a dumpster, food in its starving jaws. He let out his breath and allowed his heart to lie flat, _that's probably my que to leave then, huh?_ And with that, he slipped the can back into the deep pockets of his coat and took out his phone. As if he was always walking on his phone, he didn't even look up as he blended into the street walkers, his defiance shadowed for none to suspect. He had no notifications, all was quiet on the little screen. Texting his colleagues, his eyes stayed fixed on the device as he stayed in perfect calm pace alongside his fellow civilians.

The subway trip back proved no difficulty, there was a slight hold up due to an older woman losing her subway passcard. The TravelBots posted at the front of the line did not let her pass, and when the authorities were called, the woman complied and the line moved as normal. It made Tom sick not to jump out of his place and do something to help, but the action brewed inside his mind instead. His muscles itched for battle as he passed the bots himself, but he had to be patient. It was all a waiting game, soon he wouldn't need to answer to any shiny hunk of metal anymore, and _everyone_ who was wronged by a bot or an enforcer would be given their proper justice. It was Tom's personal vow that he would bring down the oppressive government, no matter how many years it took, even if it killed him, even if he wished it did and it sucked every ounce of energy from him.

Before him stood an office building, one he recognized as his working base, his nexus, his mothership. As he entered, he was immediately met with the kind faces of his team. The lady at the desk nodded her head in understanding as he passed her, waving his greetings to the few he walked by. As he made his way across the halls, he encountered a familiar face, "Medi!" he said as he looked the man up and down. He looked stressed, his collar loose against his neck, his eyes brightened when he saw Tom and hurried to him.

"Tom! Thank goodness you're back," Medi turned and started walking in pace with him. He swiped the ashy blonde bangs from his forehead as he spoke, not letting Tom get a word in, "Hellucard was looking for you, he said he had something you needed to hear."

"Did he tell you? Why can't you just tell me if it's so important?" Tom said in a soft voice, not intending to accuse Medi.

"You're going to want to hear what happened from the source, but let me tell you boss, you're not gonna like this one." Medi prefaced the news with worry edging his voice, his posture stiff, he pressed the button to call the elevator for Tom.

"How many times have I told you, don't call me boss, Medi. I'm not better than you." Tom said as they stepped in together.

"It's not because I think you're better than me, it's because you're the founder. I don't know, you're my boss." Medi stammered.

"We're on the same level, I would never put myself above you." Tom said seriously, his eyes level with his.

The younger man smiled at him in response and pressed the button to the ninth floor, "if you insist, boss. So, tell me how it went, any enforcer trouble?" He leaned in, his voice lowered out of habit.

"Nah, everything went fine. Nothing much to report to be honest. I hit almost all of them from the first to seventh court. Still have some juice left over," Tom took out the spray can from his coat and weighed it in his hand as an example. Medi nodded his head in acknowledgement. When the elevator door rang they both stepped out, there were a few people milling around. When they saw Tom, their expressions dropped and they stepped out of his path. Tom raised an eyebrow and turned to Medi, "what's going on?"

"I told you, it's not good." he said.

Then, a voice from the next room was loud enough to hear through the door, it was alerting someone that Tom was back. Moments later, Hellucard, who was wearing casual business wear rather than his usual fashion, appeared. His eyes lit up at the sight of Tom and motioned for him to come. He and Medi joined him at once, the blinds of the office were all the way closed and people were looking around nervously. Tom wasted no time, "okay, _someone_ explain to me what's going on, why is everyone acting like this?" He leaned in closer and hushed himself, "did someone run into trouble?"

"Worse." Hellucard warned.

"Is everyone okay?" Tom immediately asked.

"Yes, at least for now," Medi reassured Tom with a gentle hand on his bicep.

"I got a call earlier today while you were gone, Tom." Hellucard pulled out his cell phone and held it up to him, "my _personal_ number. It was a voice I didn't recognize, not anyone from my contacts. They were asking for you, _by name_ and everything. They were asking where you lived."

" _What?_ " Tom gasped and turned to Medi, who only shook his head worriedly with his arms folded. "Who is 'they'?"

"A man, older as it sounds, our age or a little older."

"Asking where I lived? He didn't say what organization he was from?" Tom questioned, Hellucard shook his head. "Well, guys let's not freak out, it could be someone asking for our help. It could be someone looking for a partnership."

"No way," Hellucard stopped him, "this is exactly what happened," he took in a fresh breath of air and tried to remember the exact words. "I got the call but I didn't answer it because it wasn't from my contacts."

"Smart." Tom folded his arms as he went on.

"Got the voicemail a few moments later, he's clearly rushed, he says my name and asks if I knew where you lived and if I could connect him to you somehow."

"He never said his name?"

"Nope, he said he was too busy and to call him back when I could and hung up. He sounded pretty distracted," Hellucard finished.

"Strange, to say the least." Tom thought to himself for a moment, "I get what you guys are saying now. Someone's after us."

"How did they know Hellucard was in the Order?" Medi chimed in.

"And how did he know I was connected to you?" Hellucard added.

" _And_ how did he know your personal cell? We don't know. We don't know much, but what we _do_ know is that they know more about us than we do them. They're already three steps ahead and we need to proceed with caution. If we can outsmart these guys we can make it out, I'm sure of it," by now Tom was already moving around, looking through files and logging into a large monitor in the office. "Hellucard, I want that voicemail backed up on at least two drives, it can't go anywhere. Medi, grab a couple guys from the tech team and get that number tracked, do you think you can do that?"

"Aye aye, boss! Give me ten minutes, max."

"Great, and hey!" Tom pointed at Medi, "what did I say about the word boss?"

-

Edd shut the door of the car behind him and opened it for the small girl. Nostalgia washed over him and in its warmth, his mood raised to an ecstatic joy. She looked apprehensive, and shrank as she looked over at a building she did not recognize. "Dad, where are we again?"

"You mean you don't recognize it? This is your old house! This is the apartment I used to live in before I moved out with your mother for the first time." Edd smiled and started walking up to the building. It was only a couple stories high, and many years ago he and his two best friends owned their own units next to each other in a perfect line. There Edd established his new life, one he never expected to turn out the way it did.

"I was two dad, I don't remember that."

Edd waved her off, "nonsense." He put his hands in his pockets and looked down at the sidewalk as he talked, "ah, it's like I'm back here again, bringing in groceries for the guys on a weekend." Amy said nothing and struggled to trail him with her short legs. Edd kept going, "I would always make sure to bring back three things from the store- every time. You know what they were?"

"What, dad."

"Cola, booze, and some dumb trinket from the checkout. That's what!" Edd chuckled to himself like it was the funniest thing he heard all day. "We couldn't live without that stuff!" He opened the door and took a dramatic breath through his nose, "you smell that kiddo? That's the smell of young dumb decisions." He practically danced across the hall until he came to a unit labeled 118 on the ground floor. There was a nametag in the middle of the door that was empty, meaning the unit was currently unoccupied. Edd jiggled the doorknob and found it was unlocked and immediately opened the door, Amy tugged on his coat.

"Dad, you can't go in there."

"Why not?"

"It's illegal!" she sounded shocked.

"It's not illegal! The door is unlocked, no one lives here, it's fine, come on I want to show you what it was like!" Edd ushered her inside but she was still hesitant. "Oh wow," Edd's voice echoed off the walls of the empty unit, the walls were painted over with white unlike the green he was used to it being. The carpet was redone as well, and everything looked dull and grey. Some of the charm was gone from this change, but Edd still could picture all the furniture in their places, the couch, the TV, all the things on the shelves. He shuffled over into the kitchen and opened the fridge to see nothing. Unsure what he expected, he pretended to grab a coke and cracked the invisible tab open, "get this. It's a Monday, I just got home from work, Matt's on the couch and I grab a cola as always and I go 'hey Matt, what's on TV?'" Edd quickly went over and sat on the floor where the couch used to be and continued, "and then Matt would say 'eh, nothing interesting' and I'd come and sit on the couch with him and surf the channels until we find something interesting enough to watch until Tom gets home and then- hey you remember uncle Matt and uncle Tom don't you?"

"Not really," Amy turned away and eyed the empty walls again. Shivering, she wrapped her arms into her chest.

"Oh come on, tall guy, even taller than me, ginger, square face, really funny? You have to remember Tom at least, he has black eyes!" Edd got up from the floor and visited the bathroom, the vanity was the same and he was grateful that he had that at least.

"I was one."

" _And two_ , that wasn't so long ago."

"That was nine years ago, dad." her voice stayed flat.

As if he was genuinely surprised, Edd's eyes grew wide and he coughed, "yeah, well…" he had to turn away. "It still feels like yesterday, you'll understand when you're older." His tone dropped to sound solemn. He ran a hand along the wall for a final time, for a moment he was silent. "Anyway," he turned to her and finally noticed that she was freezing under her coat. With no heating turned on in the unit, the temperature was as cold as it was outside and in the hall. "Go head out to the car, I just gotta finish up something here." She answered him by nodding and left, the arms of her coat swishing as she went. Edd sighed, he wondered if it was a good idea to come, the memories were good while they lasted, but the change was not welcome. It didn't feel the same, there was a stale emptiness where the youthful energy used to thrive. He could picture himself and his friends shedding tears of laughter just feet in front of him, but no one stood there now, and soon he would leave too. To finally accomplish what he came to do, he pulled out a slip of paper and a pen with barely ink left from his pocket. Scribbling down his message in what little space he had, he closed the door behind him and put the slip blank-side-up in the name tag slot. As he walked away, he turned towards the door and a small smile spread across his face. He noticed that the cat door had been removed, and the bowl was long gone. He mumbled to himself as he walked, "see you Ringo, I'll be home later."

-

"Are you absolutely sure it was here?" Tom said uneasily to Hellucard from the passenger seat.

"One hundred percent certain, how are you feeling?" he answered, glancing at him from the road. Medi and another person from the office all sat in the back, hands on their pistols that hid under their shirts.

"Not good." Tom said bluntly.

"Hey think of it this way," the bright blond from the back leaned towards Tom, "they clearly aren't as ahead as you think they are, they're trying to find clues. He's at your old apartment right? He doesn't know where you are."

"Thanks, Diwi." Tom sighed and put his head against the glass. He was confident in his abilities to crush an enemy, but something was bothering him still, "I just can't shake the feeling that we're being watched, you know? Like I'm leading you all into a trap."

"Oh please, Tom, don't worry about that," Medi piped up, "we're all here together, we're gonna get this guy gone." He tapped his thigh, bringing attention to the glock that sat underneath.

They pulled into the complex and parked away from the building that used to belong to Tom. All coming out together, the four of them tried to act casual as they entered the hall for themselves. Tom tried not to think of the memories that flooded his body, the familiarity felt like a hug from behind, a welcome home. It wouldn't last though, and sadder thoughts whispered in his ear as he walked past apartments 118 and 117, _I thought the last time I left this place would be the final time I saw these doors. Fuck this guy for making me come back here again._ The group was hushed at the wave of Tom's finger as he pointed to the nametag of unit 116. It was a name Tom did not recognize, he knocked anyway. They sat idly for a couple minutes, and after awkward glances back and forth they silently concluded that there wasn't going to be an answer. Tom knocked again, but louder. Still no answer. Medi leaned in close and whispered, "do you think he knows we're coming?" Tom answered in a shrug.

Suddenly, the door at the end of the hall that sat next to Tom's old apartment creaked open. An old pair of eyes peered out at the group, but fell on Tom, she croaked, "Thomas? Is that you with the screen on your face?"

"Mrs. Wellington! You still live here?" Tom jumped in surprise.

"Are you asking why I'm still alive? Take those stupid glasses off, you look ridiculous." She pointed at him with a wrinkled finger.

He laughed softly, "I can't, Mrs. Wellington, I'm afraid. Uh, hey, can I ask you something?" Tom fully turned to her, keeping a straight posture to stay respectful in front of his elder. "My friends and I are looking for something, some _one_ actually. Did anybody swing by here today?"

"So you _did_ know that strange man! I had a feeling he was looking for you."

The four of them looked at each other frantically. Tom took a moment to exchange glances with Hellucard before continuing, "yes, did you talk to him?"

"No. I don't talk to random strangers that come around here anymore, not since the enforcers showing up that one time."

" _What?_ Whoa, slow down, one thing at a time, I'll ask about that in a minute. What did this man look like?"

"And when did he leave?" Hellucard added.

The old lady finally opened the door fully and invited the group in. Tom went in gladly, but the rest of the team was hesitant. It wasn't until Tom gave the okay that they filed in one by one. Standing around aimlessly, Medi and Diwi stayed near the door, eyeing it in case they were being cornered. Hellucard and Tom started the investigation. The elderly woman began again, "he left just a couple minutes ago,"

"Dammit," Hellucard muttered under his breath, but Tom held up a hand to stop him from commenting.

"I heard a door opening, and I know when people get home right-abouts, so I thought it was kind of odd. I decided maybe it was nothing, so I went back to watching my television program. I heard some talking and I thought, 'oh! Someone must have a friend over!' and for a moment I was going to say hello, but then I thought maybe that wasn't such a good idea." Tom gritted his teeth and nodded slowly as she went on, "so anyway, someone opened and shut the outside door _again_ , so I went 'hm, that doesn't seem right, leaving already?' so I got my eye to the peephole in my door."

"And you saw him?" Tom tried to stimulate her to get to the point.

"Yes," she stated firmly. She expressed the next part of her story with her hands accompanying her words, "there was this huge man in a big black trench coat. Thick and warm for sure. Scary looking guy, hair going all over the place. He was turned away from me, already leaving. But he came out of your old friend's apartment. What was that fellow's name? Edward right? Yes. He left something at his door, on the little nametag slot. I was going to go out and see it for myself but I got distracted from my program. It's about this abandoned kitten that-"

"Alright Mrs. Wellington, that's great! Did you happen to hear any of the things he was saying? Or who he was with? Or maybe the car he left in?" Tom waved Diwi and Medi to go check the door that she described in her story.

"None of that stuff, no. I didn't really think about it at the time."

"I understand, you've been a great help on this, I really appreciate it. But uh, what was that thing you said about enforcers coming around here?" Tom approached the situation cautiously, he was unsure of her alignment when it came to the Red Army and the general state of things.

"Well I'm not so sure if they were enforcers or not. They looked mighty different, whole different uniform, but I don't know what else they would be."

"Go on."

"Came around here, eh, three or four weeks ago now. I saw the Army cars and I thought to myself, I thought, 'oh boy what are the big dogs doing around here?' so I sat myself up and kept a'watchin'. They came in here with their big ol' guns and started sniffing out the place. It was real quiet too. They checked out the same apartment that that man just went into, and talked to the households that live in your old place and the place that belonged to your other friend. Weren't there very long though, left as soon as they came. I don't think they found what they were looking for."

"Hm," Tom thought to himself for a moment, but then looked back at her. "Thank you for everything, Mrs. Wellington. Listen, I'd love to catch up but I'm doing something very important right now, so I'll have to come some other time. Take care of yourself okay?" He was already halfway out the door as he said it, and Hellucard was rushing him out from behind.

"No problem Thomas. And hey! Stop sneaking around everywhere, what's wrong with you young people? Stay inside, you'll catch a cold in this weather."

"Sure thing!" he called out from the hall. He hardly had any time to recollect, the other boys were racing to get out the front door, "did someone grab the thing in the door?"

"I've got it, come on we'll look at it in the car, let's get the hell out of here." Medi called back. It was hard not to look suspicious as the four men rushed to get back into the car, Diwi even had a hand on his hip ready to take his gun out at any moment. "Anyone see someone?" Medi cautioned. Tom shook his head as they all climbed in the car.

Hellucard immediately started the car and got out of the parking lot. Diwi kept his eyes glued to the back window to ensure they weren't being followed while Medi held up the slip of paper. "This is what he left, there's a message on it."

"Go ahead," Tom said.

"It says, 'I get out of work at five on Mondays, I like to visit the docks just like old times' and nothing else." Tom put his head in his hands immediately and cussed under his breath. "What is it boss? Do you know who it is?"

"Of course I do! Isn't it obvious?" Tom thrashed a fist around frustrated, "I only know one fucker who says 'just like old times'" Tom quoted the note with a mocking voice. When no one seemed to know what he was talking about, he burst out, "it's Red Leader!" They froze, and the car swerved for a moment as Hellucard choked on air.

Diwi released his hand from his gun and let out a relieved sigh, "thank Christ, we almost faced Red Leader _alone_." Hellucard reached behind the driver's seat and smacked him on the arm disapprovingly.

Medi stared at Tom with wide eyes, "how can you be so sure?"

"It has to be him, think about it. The old lady told me a story of how a few weeks ago, a couple of Red Army goons showed up and investigated the apartments, _my_ apartment. Then, some random guy in a giant trench coat and fucked up hair shows up and leaves a note asking for me. I only know one person who has ever worn a giant trench coat and has stupid hair!"

"But she said he was a big guy right? Don't you always make fun of him for being small?" Hellucard pointed out. "It could be one of his associates."

"Or she got her details mixed up." Tom grinded his teeth. "Maybe someone else is the person she saw, but this is his tone of writing, there's no other possibility."

"Yeah, because Red Leader just 'gets out of work' at five on Mondays, right?" Medi said sarcastically. "Come on Tom, you need to think about other possibilities, I doubt the dictator of the whole Red Nations would show up unprotected to leave a note. A note for who anyway?"

"Us, duh."

"But how do you _know_ it was for us?"

"Who else would it be for? They called my phone asking for Tom and then happened to be at his old apartment and left a note there, who else could it possibly be for?" Hellucard countered.

"But they _didn't_ leave the note there." Medi held up the note again. "You guys are forgetting. The note wasn't at Tom's place, it was at the room two doors down!"

"Could it be the note was for Edd?" Hellucard looked over at Tom, who was silently listening as he stared into his lap.

"No way," he muttered, but then it dawned on him and his head lifted up. The pieces started fitting together, and his heart rate sped up at an alarming pace. "No, because...the last time he came back to our place...he talked to _Edd_ first. He said that line _to him._ No, Edd!" he swung his head around at Medi and Diwi, who looked equally as concerned. "This is all my fault! We need to protect him, Red Leader couldn't find me and now he's coming after him!" Tom was shouting now, anger and worry pulsing in his veins.

"This is insane," Medi gasped. "Are you sure this Edd guy has any clue this is happening or not?"

"Oh right, I forgot you don't know Edd, Medi." Hellucard looked over at him. "It's an old friend of ours, and Red Leader's."

"And he has no idea what's coming, I'm sure of it." Tom finished. "Red Leader expects Edd to show up alone," Tom took the note from Medi and shoved it in his pocket. "But what he's getting is the Blue Order packing lead into his chest."

-

Edd struggled to get off the couch, he was starting to wonder if he was acting stupid. After work on Mondays he started making it a routine that he would take a walk on the docks to clear his head. It was a low effort ritual that seemed to help somewhat. The fog that clouded his mind cleared temporarily when all he needed to focus on was the wind in his hair and the sun setting across the water. He was just waiting for Stacy to pick up Amy from his house and he would be off. He tossed an empty can of cola to the corner of the living room where a sum of cans lay piled. They clinked together and Edd sunk further into the couch when he didn't make the can into the makeshift scoring circle of the pile. Deciding the boring monotone voices of the news on TV wasn't nearly enough to stimulate him, he stared up at the ceiling. The rainclouds of his mind grew greyer and heavier. He needed to close his eyes, if he wasn't careful, he could fall asleep right then and there. But he had to stay awake, maybe he could afford to miss his walk any other week, but there was a stupid idea in the back of his mind that said that someone could be waiting for him today. In reality, there was no way that anyone could have seen that note, it would just be him alone again like always. No one would come to see him because the people who were once his friends don't want to see him anymore, they never will. _But that isn't true!_ Edd argued within himself, _Matt wanted to see you, he still does._ That's right, Matt was still his friend. He already called him once that weekend, but it was relatively brief. Matt insisted he had work the next day and wasn't up to call for very long at nine on Sunday night. 'But we always used to stay up together in high school, don't you remember that?' he said to him. 'But we aren't in high school anymore, Edd,' Matt responded to Edd's dismay. He understood, but it was still disappointing.

When he heard the gravel crunching in the driveway, he perked up. A small body appeared from the other room, her dark hair tied into a braid with a pink ribbon twisted into it. She was wearing a fitted dress that poofed out into a sparkling tutu at the bottom. She struggled to pull the multiple suitcases behind her. "Where are you going in that, hon?"

Amy looked up at her father with a look that was hard to read, could it be anger? He didn't know. She answered in a matter-of-fact tone, "dance practice."

"Since when did you do dance? You didn't tell me that." Edd looked down at her, confused.

"I didn't think you'd care." Amy pushed past Edd, continuing to struggle as she hulled the duffle bag with one arm and the handle of her suitcase with the other. Edd simply watched her with his gaze, tilting his head to one side. Emotion welled up inside him, _didn't care?_ The words bounced off the walls of his mind and got more accusatory the more he heard it.

The screen door smacked Amy on her side and she grunted in frustration. Edd sprang to her side and opened the door wider behind her. As she slipped out easier, he caught sight of Stacy, who was now trotting up to her and took the duffle bag from her hand. Stacy glanced up at Edd and they caught eye contact. Edd didn't look away, forcing Stacy to snap out of its trance. Edd watched silently as the girls packed the car with Amy's things. Before Stacey could get into the driver's seat, Edd waved her down. Reluctantly, she came up to the door. As soon as she was within earshot, Edd asked, "when did she sign up for dance? You didn't tell me that."

"She didn't tell you?" she sounded annoyed.

"No, she said…" Edd looked away, "she thought I wouldn't care."

"Hm. Interesting." Stacy said in a flat, uninterested tone. With a flare of passive aggression, she added, "doesn't that tell you something?" Before she could let Edd answer, she turned away. As she walked, she called back to him, "Mondays at seven to nine."

Edd wanted to shout something at her for being petty, but there wasn't any use. Shutting the door, he pressed his back to the door and melted into it. Hanging his head in shame, it was just another thing on the list to feel bad about. _Mondays at seven to nine, I won't forget._ He looked at the time, they still had twenty minutes of driving time before her practice started. He realized he didn't have time to worry about it, because truthfully, he had somewhere else to be. Pressing the stress down his throat, he hauled himself away from the door and went over to his room. Stepping over the part of the carpet that came up from the floorboards of the hallway, he almost tripped over the staple that stuck out, _I really need to get that fixed._ Mindlessly, he pulled a hoodie from the edge of his bed and put it on. He grabbed his keys from the bedside table and closed the blinds on his bedroom window. As they closed, a couple of the rods shuddered and snapped into unusual positions, leaving a portion of the window open where a stream of light filtered through the glass. _Gotta fix that too,_ he stacked the thought on the others. On the way out, he grabbed a coke and his coat and threw it over his shoulders. Starting the car, something popped behind him and the engine sputtered before returning to normal, _yeah, I guess that too._ As if the tension between him and his family never happened, he was on his way to the docks.

Edd leaned up against the railing and let out a puff of air that he had been saving in his lungs. This was the same place that Edd, Matt, and Tom took a photo together all those years ago, which was now hung up on Matt's wall. Looking out onto the water, he allowed his cheek to rest on his palm. The water was the exact opposite of himself, calm and clear. The waves moved with such purpose, knowing which direction they would lap onto the shore below him. The water had no worries, no fears, no stress. It just simply was and always will be water, with the purpose only to wash the sand with its chilly palms. To carry the creatures that live within, and glisten against the warm sun as it moved. _I'll never be like that_ , Edd thought, _I have no direction like you do. No one relies on me._ With sad eyes, he let the sounds around him drone into one continuous static, falling into the beautiful hypnosis of the sea. He was alone, no one would be outside during this time of day on a Monday. People were too busy with work or school, it was too cold outside for children to play, it would get dark soon anyway. This was how Edd grew to like things, the less people around, the more he felt free to roam around and not worry about the way people perceived him. A grown man all alone, how sad did he look to others? Did people judge him for not being accompanied by a wife and children? He took a drink from his soda, _who cares,_ he answered his own question, _sad people like me exist too. No one's looking._ Taking another deep drink, he heard a car door slam aggressively behind him that made him jump. Forcing himself to relax, he started playing with the tab of his can.

"Don't you dare fucking move."

Edd choked on his swallow and flung his eyes wide open, swirling around, he was met with a group of eight people in blue collared shirts and dark pants. All of them were pointing guns at him. Edd also noticed that each of them had a patch of matching insignia on their arms. At the sight of eight pistols, Edd immediately raised his hands up awkwardly, frantically looking around at the group. Their faces wore snears of anger and hatred, their fingers already on the triggers, ready to strike. Before Edd could get a chance to assess the situation, the original source of the voice sounded again. "Drop your weapons." It was coming from the man in the middle, his eyes were covered in a mechanical visor. The screen showed two bright green eyes that artificially blinked on occasion. _What a nerd..._ was Edd's initial reaction when he saw it. Alongside him, there was a slightly smaller man to the left with ashy blond hair and silver earrings and dangled at his raised shoulders. He stood with a few other people he did not recognize. Among them, a brighter blond had such saturated turquoise eyes that he could see them from where Edd stood. But wait, Edd's seen someone with that eye color before, _is that fuckin' Diwi?_ Beyond the man with the bright eyes was someone else who seemed awfully familiar, he had a hair color that was too recognizable. It was a dirty blond that had a slight seaweed green tinge to it that Edd could never understand, _and that's...Hellucard? Which means…_

"Tom!" Edd exclaimed. Despite the circumstances, he was about to burst with joy.

"I said drop your damn weapons!" Tom replied in a cold, harsh, tone.

"T-Tom? It's me! What are you doing?"

"Don't you make me come closer." Tom shouted impatiently.

"Tom it's me, Edd! Don't you recognize me?" His voice cracked sadly.

Tom's hands twitched, which caused Edd to flinch, hoping it wouldn't pull the trigger. Something in his expression changed, but it was hard to tell what it was. There was a long pause between them, Edd gulped. Some of the gunmen exchanged impatient glaces at each other, awaiting Tom's command. He seemed to be their leader, which only boggled Edd's mind more. Who were these people? How did Diwi and Hellucard become friends with Tom? Why are they turning on someone they used to trust? Apparently, Tom had the same question, "how could you, Edd? After everything?"

"What?" Edd blinked.

"All this time, you were working with _him_? You betrayed me? I spent so long trying to protect you and you were working with the enemy the whole time. I can't believe you!"

"Tom, I don't know what you're talking abo-"

"After all the effort I put in to keep you away from this, and you betrayed me. I can't fucking believe it, but nevermind you. Where is he?"

"Where is who?" Edd was desperate now, and his joy was being overshadowed by the growing fear that he may be in legitimate danger.

"Don't act dumb, I know he's here, show yourself you coward! I saw right through your shitty plot to get me cornered, well I'm one step ahead of you!" Tom was looking around, yelling at no one.

"Tom I- I came alone! What plot are you talking about?"

"That note on your door at the old apartments, I see now _you're_ the one who left it." Tom turned to the void again, "using my own friends against me, real mature."

"You found the note? Holy shit I didn't think you'd actually see it! But how? How did you know I went back?"

"We tracked your phone number that you sloppily left when you called Hellucard." Tom jerked his head over to the man in question, who nodded his head in acknowledgement. Tom shouted again, "we can do that you know! We can track phones, we are _very technologically advanced!_ "

"So that is you Hellucard," Edd commented, half to himself, "and that's Diwi! You guys look the same!"

"I think that's a compliment?" Diwi raised his eyebrows.

Edd continued, "listen Tom, I don't really know what's going on, or why you want to kill me, but you have to believe me when I tell you I have no idea what you're talking about! I started talking with Matt again, and I wanted to know where you went. I called Hellucard asking if he knew anything about where you moved, but he didn't pick up. I left the note at my door on the off chance that one day someone would find it as a memento of our time spent there. But look! You actually showed up!"

"And you expect me to believe that story? Who would leave details about their work schedule on someone's doorstep for absolutely no reason?" Tom wasn't having it.

"I didn't think anyone would actually see it!" Edd repeated. "Tom, please listen to me." Tom's gaze softened at the sight of his plea, he wanted to believe him so bad, but the details just weren't lining up. Before he could make any more decisions, Edd's eyes widened at a growing shadow behind them, "RedBots, run!"

Tom turned and saw that Edd was right, the figures of the bots turned the corner and saw the nine of them in the distance. "Dammit, they must have heard the shouting, boys get back to the van!"

"Wait, Tom, what about me?" as the gunmen scattered, Tom was still holding Edd at gunpoint. The shriek of the bot's alarm call sounded as the shining bodies of the RedBots grew closer. "Tom!"

"You better be telling me the truth, Edd." Tom said in a very serious tone. The dusty blond man shouted something at Tom but Edd couldn't hear him correctly.

"Of course I am, I would never lie to you," and with that, Tom lowered his weapon, but it was already too late. A loud clang shocked the men out of their conversation. A fresh bullet hole appeared in the railing next to Edd.

Tom screamed out to his men, "get out of here! I've got this covered!" Yowls of disagreement answered his cry, but eventually the black van that held all seven of them sped off. There were more bots now, their skinny, smooth torsos reflected the sunset from behind Edd and Tom. As the van sped away, some of the bots broke from the group and made chase with the vehicle, shooting turret bullets at them as they left. "Follow me," Tom brought Edd back to the present and grabbed his wrist. Together they streaked across the docks and made quick cover behind a mailbox.

"What do we do?" Edd panted.

" _You're_ going to follow _my_ directions." Tom stated, taking a peek out from the side of the mailbox. He aimed at a bot that was chasing them, and took a shot. Glass of its face shattered and sparks erupted from the screen. It slowed down and then fell to the ground, making uncontrollable jerking motions. Tom took a second to catch his breath before aiming again, this time, the next bot stopped and started scanning its surroundings, it was taking aim itself. Tom fired off another shot, this time hitting the robot's torso. It made a significant dent, but the metal was too thick, and the bullet was lost. It reeled back before regaining its balance, Tom took this opportunity to fire again. The seam between the torso and its face ripped open and sent glass and metal shards everywhere, and its face went black. Tom started his direction, "we have to move or we'll get stuck here, let's go o-" when he turned back to Edd he was taken aback. He was holding a pistol of his own, finger on the trigger ready to shoot. His face determined, Tom blinked at him in surprise, "you were strapped this whole time?"

"With those fuckers roaming around? Duh, how else am I supposed to protect myself?" Edd looked at Tom like he was stupid.

Tom just shook his head in disbelief and jerked a shoulder over to behind a nearby building. "Let's move over there, there's more room." Edd nodded his head in understanding and on Tom's count, they sprinted. Tiny bullets sprayed in their direction, Edd caught a blurry glimpse of the situation. The number of bots had tripled, and he began to question the outcome of this fight.

"Tom?" he drew out his voice questioningly, "are you sure you know what you're doing?"

"You're damn right I do, and what about you, you get into robot fights often?"

"I'll have to say no, no I do not. This is a bit of a first for me. So this is what you've been doing for almost a decade? Fighting robots behind buildings?" Together, they shot off many rounds into the bots' faces where their weak points were. Edd missed more than he hit, but it slowed them down enough for Tom to finish them off.

Another bullet whizzed past Tom's head and he ducked, "it's a lot more complicated than that, but yeah basically."

"And you haven't gotten hurt?"

"Not by these weaklings, but I do have this thing," Tom sarcastically flicked his visor with a momentarily free hand.

"What is it?" Edd asked, pressing himself flat against the wall.

"It's a prosthetic, it happened a few years ago, I'm fine though."

"Damn, what happened?"

"Cancer." Tom shot as he said it and another bot went down. Edd shot off a few more rounds before his pistol clicked. Tom looked around for a solution and saw further down the alley was a staircase to the roof. "Get up there, I'll catch up."

"Are you sure?"

"Stop questioning and start _doing!_ "

Edd found himself at the bottom of the staircase at once and began climbing. He tried not to look down at Tom who was now fending for himself. He heard him reload and start firing again. Fleeing up the metal framed stairs, its calmor made a few lights inside the building flicker on. _As if the gunshots didn't already do that, is this normal for you guys? Judging by what Tom is saying, I guess probably._ When he reached the top of the roof, he ducked his head down so that none of the bots would spot him up there. Catching his breath, he sat on the inside of the edge. _Curse me not having ammo to reload,_ he thought. The truth was, now there was no way to help, and he had to wait it out until Tom came up to meet him.

Tom cussed under his breath, the bots were giving each other signals and calling for more backup. _For Christ's sake, it's like they want to call in every unit in the city!_ Gritting his teeth, his vision started to become too stressed with figuring out which bot to shoot. There was a decent amount of distance between him and the squad, but he could hear sirens coming from his surrounding sides, and it sounded like he was quickly running out of time. When he thought he had a decent opportunity, he was gone from his spot in a flash. As he whisked himself up the stairs, the bots seemed confused at the sudden lack of kickback. With that bought time, Tom joined Edd on the roof. Without stopping, Tom ran over to the other edge and waved for Edd to join him.

"Where are we going?"

"Somewhere not here! Come on, they'll be flooding this whole area in less than five minutes, we need to get the hell out of here before we're completely surrounded."

"How are we supposed to get down?" Edd said as he joined him on the other side, his breath still raspy.

"We aren't, we go across."

"To the next roof? Are you insane? This isn't a comic, Tom, you aren't a superhero!"

"We may not be superheroes, but I don't want to die either, do you? It's up to you." Tom gave a thumbs up to Edd as he braced himself for the job. The shrill sirens of the bots crept a little closer, telling the boys that they were coming forward. Tom backed up, and with one giant bout of effort, he ran and jumped. Edd couldn't watch, and it wasn't until he heard Tom's grunt as he hauled himself up the ledge of the next roof that he could turn back. Rolling himself onto the surface, Tom called out, "I'm okay! Now you try."

 _There is no fuckin' way I am jumping off a roof._ Edd said as he looked down from the ledge. The height of several stories made the dumpster beneath him look the size of a cat. Tom reached out his hand and said in a reassuring voice, "look, it's not that far, it's just a couple arm lengths, you're a big guy, you have long legs, it'll be fine!"

"You're full of bullshit, Tom, there's no way." Edd shriveled and took a couple steps back, and yet he started backing up more to gain distance for his run. The sirens started echoing against the walls of the alley, there were only two choices, die, or die trying. "Fuck it," Edd said under his breath and steadied his breathing. Without giving himself a chance to second guess, he ran with all his effort and leaped, outstretching his arm, his wrist was grabbed by Tom and Edd's knee slammed against the brick. Edd kept in the shriek of pain as to not alert the bots below. With a mighty heave, Tom grabbed Edd by the collar of his coat and hoisted him up. When they were both on top of the building, they laid down and panted. "I cannot believe you made me jump off a roof."

"You say that like we aren't going to _continue_ jumping off roofs, come on, get up." Tom brought himself to his knees and then to his feet. For a moment, Edd admired Tom's dexterity. He must have been training in all the time they've been apart, and Edd definitely has not been. All the activity was already wearing down on his system, but the adrenaline rush was enough to make Edd get up. By the time Edd was on his feet, Tom was preparing his next jump, luckily it was a lot closer of a distance. He called back to him before he started his sprint, "this one is a double whammy, don't stop sprinting, the momentum will carry you, like this!" With a tremendous amount of force, Tom soared like an eagle into the wind. Easily sticking the landing on the first jump, he did not take a second to lose speed as he continued, getting smaller in Edd's vision. Before he could see the result, Edd jumped at the smashing of glass behind him. A screech ripped through the crisp air from below, and gunshots erupted directly after. Edd thought the worst, but it was enough to scare him into movement. Without knowing where Tom was, Edd started his jump. He didn't need to put as much effort in for the first jump, but he landed awkwardly and for a split second wondered if that would be the difference between life and death. Racing against the clock, Edd fought the wind that blew against him. With a gasp of air, Edd jumped again, his surroundings seemed to black out, and in the next moment, he was rolling onto the safe ground of the roof. Tom was a few feet away, catching his breath. "Nice!"

Edd didn't have any air to respond, and laid there with his arms and legs splayed out instead. Tom peered out from the edge. The sound of the bots was a lot more distant now, and Edd started to regain confidence that he would make it. "What do we do now?"

"This is going to sound crazy," Tom prefaced without looking back at him.

"You're kidding." Edd said defeatedly.

"We're going to get down to the ground and we're going to act like this never happened."

"You mean try to blend in? 'Yeah don't mind us officers, I am very well aware of the mass shooting going on a few buildings down, doesn't bother us none though!' That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" Edd crawled over to where Tom was looking.

Tom smacked Edd on the side of the head in annoyance, "not like that! Look," he pointed at a staircase leading down into the ground. "That's the subway entrance, if we can just get to the subway, we can get out of here scot free. But there are bots everywhere, we can't just go booking it out into the open!"

At the mention of them, Edd spotted a few drones parading the streets just below. "Okay, so how do you suggest we get down?" Tom looked around, his digital eyes darting back and forth trying to put visual pieces together.

"Follow my lead," he went over to where there was a dumpster at the bottom. Putting one foot dangling over the edge, he placed it on the ledge of a window that was just within his reach. Using it as leverage, he dropped below onto the dumpster. "Make sure you bend your knees when you do this," he said in a much quieter voice. He then hopped below onto the ground and looked up at Edd expectantly.

"I'm sure it looks easier than it is," Edd muttered and went over to where Tom dropped. The distance between the roof and the window ledge was a lot easier for Edd with his towering height over Tom, but his feet were bigger which made the grip not as strong. With wobbly legs, Edd dropped down onto the dumpster, remembering Tom's advice. A shot of pain traveled up his legs and swelled up around the knee that Edd smacked against the wall earlier. He groaned through gritted teeth and Tom shushed him.

"Take it easy, big guy, come on, just one more and the old man can sit down for a while." Edd saw the tips of Tom's fingers appear at the edge of the dumpster as he held out his hands for him to grab. With a firm grip, Edd held onto Tom as he led him to the ground. Tom let out a prideful cheer for his old friend when he made his descent. They exchanged smiles of relief and they were grateful to finally be on the ground again. At a calm pace, Edd had to hide his limp as they snuck across the street to where the subway entrance was. There wasn't anyone around, but Edd spotted a couple people inside the safe lobbies of storefronts. Itching to get down the stairs, he couldn't peel his gaze from Tom. He looked a little different from the last time he saw him. Stubble dotted his jawline and meshed with his sideburns, his shoulders and arms looked a lot beefier than he remembered. The visor was the biggest change, it was a thick piece of glass that from the side showed it was made up of multiple layers. The visuals that an outsider would see looked like it came from the middle layer, and Edd could tell from certain angles that there were other lights that couldn't be seen from the naked eye. He wondered what Tom's vision looked like, and if it had anything to do with how well he could shoot at the bots.

The subway was colder than it was outside, and despite the sweat that welled up at the edges of their foreheads, Tom couldn't help but shiver. Edd held out a corner of his coat collar, "no thanks, polar bear, I don't need your hide. I appreciate it though. It's time we went our separate ways."

Edd looked at him sadly for a moment and stopped. Turning to fully face him, he murmured, "you're really leaving me again? You didn't even explain to me what _anything_ about today was. Who did you think I was? Who did you think I was working with? Who were any of those people you were with?"

Tom looked away, "look, I'm sorry about today. You shouldn't have seen or been involved in any of that. I made a mistake, and I should have turned you away when I had the chance."

"Are you kidding me? That was the most fun I had all year! In the past _few_ years!" Edd jumped up excitedly.

" _What?_ Why?" Tom sprang back at his joy.

"This is just like how it used to be! Going on adventures with you and Matt, not knowing if you'll make it out alive. I haven't been held at gunpoint for so long I forgot the thrill of it all!"

Tom held out his hands in an effort to calm him down, "whoa there Edd. That's nice and all, but we haven't talked in a really long time _for a reason_ and you shouldn't be involving yourself in this stuff. You have a wife and daughter now, or more than that I don't even know, point is, I have to go and so do you. I'm sorry I couldn't say goodbye last time, but this is your goodbye now."

"No, Tom, please." Edd stepped in Tom's path when he tried to walk past him. "You don't know anything about my life now and I don't know about yours, I got back together with Matt, we can all talk again, wouldn't you like that?" Edd sounded desperate now.

Tom sighed, "I do want that, but I know I can't have it."

"Why not?" Edd exclaimed.

"Because- because- it's complicated, Edd!"

"You're not making any sense." Edd urged.

"Gah! Fine! Give me a pen, or a phone or something." Tom gave in and took out the same slip of paper that Edd left in the door two days prior. Instantly, Edd gave Tom the pen with hardly any ink left. It scratched the surface of the paper as it struggled to produce any ink. To Edd's satisfaction, Tom shoved the note and pen back into his possession. "Here, this is my phone number. _Don't_ call me on weekdays any time from eight to noon, or Saturdays at all." Tom was already walking away while Edd was studying the number.

"Thank you, Tom." Edd called out to him.

"I'll see you around, Edd."


	3. Mad Scientist

_ "-Another report just came in detailing the events of the Monday shooting. Pictures came back from the police showing blurred shots of the suspects as shown here." _

"They're still on this one?" The taller man mumbled. "I swear they just get a new story and stick with it for days even though nothing new comes out."

"Well, yeah, it _is_ the news," taking a puff from his cigarette, the man he was talking to answered in the same uninterested tone. "Take a look though," he pointed at the screen on the backside of the driver's seat, "they got pictures."

"Wow, how crystal clear. I swear, we keep pumping money into these bots and for what? They move around too much for them to take a decent photo. Did I not point that out to the board?"

"Yes, Patryck, you did in fact point it out to the board." He rolled his eyes and looked out the window. 

"This new model better be the best one yet, if two gunmen can take out thirteen bots and run away without getting a single wound in the matter of twenty-four minutes then clearly there's a problem." 

While Patryck ranted, the man with the cigarette was hardly listening, something caught his eye. "Hey Pat, take a look at this one," the car slowed down at a red light and he pointed out the window at a poster. A large blue ring outlined Red Leader's face, and thick droplets of paint dripped onto the wall. "It's those stupid kids again."

"Oh they're at it again are they? Hmph." Patryck shrugged at the sight, unbothered. "I thought they were finally done after that one gang was caught."

"Which?" His colleague cocked his head.

"That group of teenagers they busted a few months ago. I can't remember the name off the top of my head, probably something edgy like 'Dark Fire Shadow Angels' or something else a thirteen year old would make up on the internet." They shared a laugh, and the driver started up again, passing the series of ringed posters. "No, but seriously. It's a bit of an eyesore, I wish they would just give up already. It's not like anything's happening."

"Literally." 

They sat in silence for a while and listened to the low mumble of the car. The news stayed on,  _ “if anyone knows who the suspects might be, please call the authorities as soon as possible. It is partly our job as the people of the Red Nations to protect each other and the vitality of our country. This has been our hourly update. Back to you, John!”  _

The car pulled into a long driveway. At the end sat an enormous gray block of a building, industrial lighting placed strategically along the path. The design was overall modern, but there were some cozy elements that didn’t make it feel like they were going to a warehouse, like the well-kept gardens in front of the entrance. The boys straightened out of their comfortable slouches from the long drive and fixed their uniforms to be spick and span. Patryck was the first to get out, and while waiting for his friend to get situated, he walked over to the other side and opened the door for him. Before walking over to the entrance, the smaller man took his cigarette from the corner of his mouth to speak more clearly to the driver from his window, “park close, we’ll be an hour, max.”

“Understood, General.”

Patryck held the door open and they both went inside. There was a lobby awaiting them, with sleek shining floors and soft music playing over a loudspeaker. The typing of the receptionist kept the silence from being too out of place. Upon the sight of them, she perked up and waited for them to come up. “General ver Toorde and General Dadulewicz for the four pm appointment?” Patryck said to her. 

“Mhm,” she typed something out on her computer and clicked her mouse a few times. Her tone sounded unimpressed and her face showed little emotion. Without making eye contact with them, she said, “take a seat over there, he’ll be right with you.” She then picked up a rotary style telephone and clicked a button at the base, “the generals for your four pm,” and put it down again. 

They made their way over to the right side of the lobby and found seating. It was like a little waiting room, with simple movable chairs with firm red padding on the seat. Closing his eyes, Patryck’s companion leaned back against the wall with a sigh. To ease his oral fixation, he took out a stick of gum and gnawed at it anxiously. Something was bothering him. He decided to voice his frustration, “do you think we should tell Red Leader about those posters?”

“Hm,” Patryck looked away in thought, “I don’t see why, it’s just graffiti.”

“ _ Yeah,  _ but whoever is doing it has been doing it over and over again for like, a year and a half or something. We always say we got ‘em but it just comes back a month later.”

“And?” Patryck wasn’t convinced.

“So they’re still out there. And they’re going to keep doing it if we don’t do something.”

“Paul, I get it, but I don’t think spraypaint is enough to cause concern. It’s just a low-effort protest tactic, it’s more annoying than it is a threat. It’s probably just a single guy trying to make a statement. If it goes somewhere further maybe we can talk then, but I really don’t think it’s worth stressing the big guy over it, you know?” he put a reassuring hand on Paul’s shoulder. 

“Yeah okay,” Paul smiled mischievously, “and when it  _ does  _ get out of hand and he gets mad at us for not telling him sooner, you owe me a beer.” They shared a lighthearted laugh. “I can hear it now, he comes in all pissy, probably slams his hands on the table and yells ‘you incompetant  _ fools _ ! Why didn’t you tell me sooner, I’ll have your heads for this!’”

“Nah, he’d call us ‘fumbling idiots’ and not pronounce fumbling right.” Patryck could hardly keep in his giggling.

In a mocking voice, the joke barely escaped Paul's lips through him trying not to laugh, “ _ fuhm-blingk. _ ”

Patryck slapped his knee and was kneeling over now, silent laughter made his stomach tight. Looking around to make sure no one was watching their childish teasing, he saw the lady behind the desk still turned around typing away at her keyboard. A sound from their right made them straighten up at once, a man appeared with shaggy dark brown hair and an unironed lab coat that was haphazardly buttoned. Behind him was the smaller frame of his assistant with dirty blond hair and a black patch over his right eye. 

The scientist’s face lit up when he caught sight of the generals. As the two stood up to greet him, the disheveled mess rushed over. “Paul! Patryck! It’s wonderful to see you two again.” His voice was gravely and cracked here and there. He shook both their hands vigorously and started leading them back into the hallway from where he came with a hand behind Patryck’s back.

“Dr. Bing, it’s good as always to hear from you,” Patryck responded quickly before Bing could keep talking. He was known for being a bit...sporadic. 

“What are you guys here for again?”

It was his associate who answered, glancing at the clipboard he was holding, “it’s an appointment to check on the new RedBot model, Sir.” 

“Oh! That’s right, thank you Larry.” Bing clapped his hands together dramatically but then his head snapped into a confused look, “wait, which model, #123 or #124?”

“#123, Sir.” Larry responded through gritted teeth, “do not mention #124.”

“Don’t worry, they don’t even  _ know _ about experiment #124!”

Larry pinched his nose between two fingers, “now they do.”

“What’s that?” Paul asked, his head popping up behind Patryck’s shoulders. 

Bing opened a set of double doors to reveal a large laboratory. On all walls, there was equipment set on sterile white countertops and large complicated machinery. Several chalkboards and cork boards with frantic scribbles and drawings littered the room, the notes outlined plans of different experiments and future designs. Fluorescent lights of every color blinked periodically on the machines and there were so many buttons and dials it was hard to believe they all had their own functions. On one wall stood five glass cases with human figures inside. One was clearly a robot, made up of many blocky metal parts, but the one next to it looked like a person with extremely similar features but with flesh. Its eyes were closed and it was encased in a liquid that bubbled like a water filter in a fish tank. Expressionless, the figure was in a peaceful sleep. Off to the side were the RedBots in question, their short little bodies stood firm on the ground. Usually when they are powered on, they would float a couple inches off the ground, this was so that nothing on the ground would be able to slow their movements while chasing down criminals. The current model was only three feet tall, a large black screen made up the top quarter of its body. A wide band spanned the circumference of the shape, white blocked out letters spelled out “POLITI”. A small blue blinker attached to the top of its head, it lit up when the bot would be on alert like a police car would. A small square on its chest signaled where the turret barrel was, the gun was on the inside so that from the side it was still smooth. On its back, the Red Army logo shined brightly against the metallic plate. The maintenance panel was open, and a few wires stuck out, it was still being worked on by Bing. Beyond the bot, there was a slightly taller frame next to it, but it was covered by a white cloth. Paul walked up to it and the rest of them followed. Bing began the appointment, “so as we see here, this is our current RedBot model, #122,” he twiddled his fingers around the machine, very proud of his past work. It became apparent to the generals that he would not be answering Paul's question. “I kept all of the notes you had for me in mind, and I think #123 is going to make you very happy.” Bing looked genuinely excited, and was bouncing in place when he grabbed the corner of the sheet and pulled down. 

The new model was not too much bigger, it had a very similar body shape, but the features were different. The screen making up its face was smaller, and had the same screen reflected on the backside. The frame was skinnier, but had a shape at it’s bottom that widened out, making it flat against the ground instead of rounded like it’s former model which required a stand to stay put. The biggest change was that there was no longer a single blinker on its head but instead there stood two blocky horns that protruded from the head. On each spike, the tip was its own blinker. “Cute isn’t it?” Bing awaited their reactions. 

“Actually, it’s a little scary compared to the current one,” Paul commented, cocking his head to the side. 

“It looks like its shoulders are tensed up,” Patryck noted, “I like that, I think it’s a good thing it’s a bit more intimidating. And it has Red Leader’s hair spikes, that’s funny, who told you to do that?” 

“Oh, that was his idea, we were calling about it one night and thought it would be good to have a consistent image.” Bing patted the little robot’s head and then took out a small remote from his lab coat. Pressing a button, the screen lit up red with life, vertical lines blinked at them as it woke up from its digital slumber. Automatically it began levitating and turned towards Bing, awaiting command. “Hello little fellow, turn around for me, please,” the bot silently obeyed his direction as it recognized his voice and turned around. “See this, boys?” Bing pointed to the maintenance panel and cracked it open with a finger, “I made this panel much smaller and able to open with your hands. Take a look inside, I think I’m getting better with cable management.” 

Patryck peered inside, thin wires of many colors intersected each other and crossed over in many layers. Tiny lights blinked and shined from the mess of electronic parts. “I wish I knew what I was looking at, but yeah, sure, looks great.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” said Paul, who was bent down and looking at its pixelated eyes instead. 

“I took what you said about the screens to heart, Patryck. So I made it smaller and the seams can’t rip open anymore.” Bing knocked on the space between the screen and where the rest of the body connected. Usually one would be able to see the deep set seam, but it was smoothed over now, and the knock was deafened by the thicker layer of metal separating the surface from the delicate wires beneath. 

Paul looked up at Patryck with raised eyebrows, “see, they listen to you.”

Bing didn’t hear the remark and continued on, “on the same note, take a look at this!” He pressed another button, and there was a soft churn of motors coming from the bottom of the body. Paul crouched down further and watched as small wheels popped out from the bottom and the robot plopped on the lab floor. “It can roll around now! Look at my son, look at him go.” On his mark, the robot ran a few laps around all four of them, making figure eights as it swerved in superior navigation, gracefully as if it weighed a feather. Bing watched with pride beaming from his eyes, it was starting to creep Paul and Patryck out.

“Here is a list of additional features and a copy of the blueprint,” Larry quietly unclipped a few sheets of paper from his clipboard and handed them to Patryck, who thanked him with a nod and began flipping through them. 

“So, what do you think? Be honest,” Bing leaned in towards the boys eagerly waiting for their approval. 

After a moment of browsing the documents, Patryck gave his affirmations, “looks good to me, I’m excited to bring these back to the boss. I think he’ll really like it. We’ll give you a call when we can start talking about factory dates. Hey, is this the only model? I wish we could bring one back.”

“I’m afraid this is the only one at the moment, but I understand, I would want to take him home too, I’ve even considered it!”

“We already have too many robots, Bing.” Larry stopped him with a stern voice.

Not wanting to get into an off topic conversation, Paul chimed in, “I guess if that’s all, we’ll be on our way then.” Patryck nodded in agreement. 

“I suppose so,” Bing sounded disappointed, like he had more to say. Biting the inside of his cheek, he decided to go for it, “ah, but before you go I have a bit of a favor to ask of you two.” They perked up in interest at the notion as he continued, “as you know I’m not working on Red Army commissions  _ all the time  _ so I have this little hobby project going on in my free time.”

“Go on,” Paul urged.

“Imagine this scenario, you want to clear an area for a new building, right?” Bing began with a story-telling voice, “the ground is infertile, you’re going to want to put in new soil anyway, the locals are already evacuated temporarily for construction, there’s not too much forestation around to worry about, okay? Are you following?”

“Yes, get to the point,” Paul folded his arms after putting a second stick of gum in his mouth.

“Okay, okay, you now need to clear a large area in a small amount of time, how are you going to do it?” Bing surveyed them waiting for an answer, but when no one did he answered the riddle himself, “bombs! Right? Obviously. So, I’ve been designing this amazing model here,” he walked over to one of the chalkboards and pointed at a few chemical equations written out.

For a few minutes, the generals let him drone on about the utilization of various dangerous chemicals and how he would properly use them to blow up an area in a controlled manner, without harming any nearby wildlife. At least, that’s what they understood of the complex rambling and multiple tangents he went on. Looking at Larry, he was looking at Bing unphased, as if he’s heard this speal multiple times. They had to admit, Bing was smart, and he looked like he had everything figured out. Unfortunately for them, they couldn’t quite follow. He didn’t seem like he knew that the two army men wouldn’t understand his complicated science. Patryck didn’t have the heart to stop him though, he looked so enthusiastic. He waved his arms around wildly as he was putting his own pieces together again, fascinated with his own genius. Eventually, he stopped talking and they snapped back into reality when they realized Bing was looking at them expectantly. Paul and Patryck looked at each other, not knowing what to say, but it was Patryck who spoke up first, “that  _ sounds  _ interesting, Bing. But uh, do you think you can phrase that in English?”

Larry looked sideways at them and explained flatly, “funny science thing makes things go boom.”

“Thank you.”

“But there’s one teeny tiny, itty bitty, little problem.” Bing approached them again and grasped his hands together shaking his head disappointedly. “The Department of Health and Safety doesn’t allow funny science thing to be used legally, at least not in the desired amount. So that’s where I am asking for your assistance.”

“I see now, you want us to make an exception for you?” Patryck raised his eyebrows, seeing his true intentions. 

“An exception of sorts, yes. Maybe  _ exception  _ isn’t the right word, but a little favor, a buy-back.” Bing tilted his head to the side and smiled at them, blinking innocently.

“I’m not too sure if we’re comfortable making decisions for Red Leader like that.” Paul stated, stepping in front of Patryck. 

He piped up from behind Paul, “it’s true. That’s not our choice to make, Doctor.”

“Oh come on, I think we all know he’d say yes! He does this for me all the time. It's no different than the other favors he’s done, besides, you can call in your favor any time you want, it’s a promise.”

“I know, but-”

Patryck was interrupted by Bing dropping his expression, “I don’t think you’re understanding me.”

“Excuse me?” Paul raised his brow at the sudden mood change. As they spoke, Larry was on his way to the door and pressed a button beside it. Neither of them knew what the button did. 

“Boys, boys. Listen, when I said ‘ask’ earlier, I wasn’t  _ really  _ asking. It was more of a polite gesture. What I really meant was, it would be  _ amazing _ if your leader would look the other way while I continued my experiment. I’m even generously offering my future services!” Bing put his hand out to make the deal with them.

Paul and Patryck exchanged glances. Paul’s hand was now on his hip where his handgun was, just in case. He had no intention of using it, but wanted to make sure everyone in the room knew he was capable of doing so. Patryck put out a reassuring hand to signal him to yield and then turned towards Bing again. Larry also seemed to have something in his hand from the corner of Patryck’s vision. “Can we prolong this decision? We just need to talk to him, I’m sure you’re completely right and he would love to make this deal. However, it’s simply  _ not in our power _ to undermine his authority, you see?” He spoke in a calm, diplomatic voice, he didn’t want to raise the tension any further. 

“Get him on the phone then, I don’t have time to wait.” Bing gave him an equally confident smile, but refused to give in to his compromise. 

Paul spoke up in a brash tone, not wanting to negotiate, “he’s busy, we can’t just call him for no reason. Just be patient, asshole. What don’t you understand about the fact that we can't speak on his behalf?”

“Paul, let me handle it, thank you.” Patryck shot him a look but his voice was still steady.

“The Red Army is a great ally, truly. It’s been an honor working with you guys, and it’s always a pleasure to get a visit from anyone with those fancy blue coats. So,” Bing looked over at Larry and the generals’ eyes followed. They discovered that Larry was holding a laser gun, but it remained pointing at the ceiling and his finger was resting beside the trigger. “That is why I think it would be a good idea to not get in my way, so that when you leave this room, there  _ won’t _ be a group of robots there to kill you and there  _ will  _ be more opportunities in the future to continue this wonderful symbiotic relationship we have going on here. Do I make myself clear? I think I do, Larry, do you think I made myself clear?”

“Yes, Sir, I think you made yourself amazingly clear.”

“I, too, think you’ve made yourself clear, Dr. Bing.” Patryck repeated. His hand was still out waiting for a shake, so Patryck took it. With a firm grip, they agreed, “I will allow you to continue your work, whatever that may be. But, if there are complications about this in the future, we told you we don’t have the authority for this. You’ve been warned.”

“So have you.” Bing smiled from ear to ear and his tone brightened almost instantly. “Whew! I almost thought I had to mop up blood today. That would have been super annoying, huh Larry?”

“Very annoying indeed, Sir. I wouldn’t have done it if you asked me to.” Larry was already putting his gun away.

Paul growled under his breath at the threat, and Patryck had to nudge him with an elbow. With gritted teeth, he whispered in Paul’s ear, “stay down, idiot. Do you want to get shot?”

Paul’s gaze ignited with annoyance, “not if I shoot them first! Are we seriously going to take this?”

“Yes, we are. It’s not our problem, let Red Leader handle this if he wants. We saw the model, now let’s go, and don’t say anything stupid, got it?” Paul only grunted in response. They swiftly said their goodbyes, Bing seemed to have had no recollection of the tension that just stood between them which made the generals’ nerves stand on end. His ability to switch between serious and joking was frightening at the least, and the sooner they got out of there the better. His assistant’s nonchalant demeanor was no help, it was like his madness was the norm. Their duality struck the two in a way that made them anxious to be around them again. Usually it was Red Leader that would make appointments with the mad scientist, had he ever encountered this frightening side of them?

-

The taste of coffee went down easy and Paul huffed in annoyance to his companion. Patryck raised an eyebrow. Paul took another sip before shaking his head, “I’m telling you, we should say something. This isn’t a good idea.”

Patryck rolled his eyes, “this again? Look man, we’re back, it’s over now. We did what we set out to accomplish, what’s the problem?”

“You should have let me beat the shit out of him while we had the chance, talking to us like that,” he grunted and sipped his drink again. 

“Always so quick to action, Paul. Relax,” Patryck soothed from where he was sitting. They were in the break room of their home base, a newly built governmental office on the outskirts of London. On the outside, it didn’t look like too much. It was grey and drab, built in a brutalist style, two giant triangular prisms enclosing a central skyscraper. Here, the core of the Red Army did its bidding, and at the top of the tower were the offices of the most influential members of the army. On the inside, it was just as grey and depressing as its exterior. The simple color palette left little to the imagination, with trimmed plants and clear water features breaking up the visual dust of the greys. It would look dead if not for the energy of the people inside causing the air to stir with stressed rush. Most of the workers inside moved together like a machine, each having their own tasks and responsibilities. A receptionist typed away at his keyboard and answered a buzzer to let the man coming off the elevator through. He was pushing a cart that carried stacks of paper in which a lady in business casual took and distributed them among the people in their cubicles. All typing at their own computers as one, the light drumming of the keys sent information across the continent, keeping the government and its citizens in check. This was how they functioned, without much to say and not many feelings to be had. 

But for the generals, life wasn’t as boring. They weren’t responsible for paperwork, emails, or phone calls, but rather the dirty work for the only person able to command them. Paul was a brute, he had no issue sorting out things and people that needed muscle to behave. Patryck was the brains, a problem solver and the voice of reason. Together they were a tag team fighting under the command of a leader who knew exactly what to do and how to do it. Their odd jobs kept their work interesting, and they never minded the unpredictable hours that was required of them. Paul even preferred it, he always said he would much rather wake up in the middle of the night to take someone out than sit at a desk all day and deal with coworkers. Needless to say, the tension they experienced with Bing that day did not frighten them, but rather took them by surprise. The crazed scientist was considered a close partner to the army, even a personal friend to its leader, yet he was an unpredictable party who chose to remain neutral when he was first approached to develop special technology for them. He insisted that he could defend himself easily against any threat and wasn’t scared of what the army would do to him and his facility, Red Leader respected that. Since, he has shown no hostility towards them unless provoked, until now. Bing’s experiment hung like heavy clouds in Paul’s mind, he wanted to push Patryck further, “he was the one quick to action! Did you see that guy’s face? He looked like he was about to tie us up and inject some weird serum into our veins for entertainment. And that scrawny little sidekick isn’t much better, he’d sit and watch with no emotion like a psychopath.”

“You’re being dramatic.” Patryck dismissed with a hint of condescension.

“What’s the downside? Why do you think it’s a bad idea, convince me.” Paul tried to move him on the subject but it didn’t seem to be working. He wasn’t surprised though, once Patryck set his mind to a decision, it was like pulling teeth to get him to change his mind. 

“My God,” he pinched his nose, “ _ the downside _ is that we’re going to waste his time telling him something he probably already knows. He and Bing talk all the time, do you really think he has no idea that he’s working on that bomb project?”

“If he knew, why did he need  _ us  _ to grant him permission? And if they talk  _ so  _ much, why couldn’t he have waited to talk to him personally?”

“I don’t know, who cares?”

“It doesn’t add up, it’s suspicious and we should say something, Pat!”

“We’re not telling him and that’s final.” Patryck’s voice was sturdy and controlled. “If you’re so inclined, tell him yourself, but you can suffer the consequences alone.” He stood up and began to walk out of the break room. Before turning the corner, he gave his colleague a soft smile, hoping to lighten the mood, “if you think I’m going to let you give me a week of punishment work, you’re dead wrong.”

Paul sighed and softened his voice as well, “you’d better be right about this one.”

“Of course I am,” Patryck said over his shoulder as he started making his way down the hallway, “I’m always right.”


	4. Spray Can

It’d been a week since the unpleasant meet-up with Tom and his gang, and Edd made sure to hold him to his promise of talking to him again. He wasted no time taking Tom’s direction on when to call him, and set up a meeting at a small coffee shop in downtown London. It was a bit of a drive, but if it meant getting answers out of Tom, or talking to him at all, it was worth a thousand miles. The time was set for Sunday at eleven, and Edd was already there, sitting alone and waiting nervously. He was acutely aware that he probably looked awkward and tense, looking around expectantly for a person he barely knew anymore. On the phone, Tom seemed tired, distracted, and more importantly, not very excited to meet. Edd didn’t want to admit he was feeling insecure, but during the fight with the RedBots, it was like there was no time between them. Then on the phone, his voice sounded groggy and faded, reluctant to agree. It was clear that their lives were very different now, Edd was the average guy with a job and family, and Tom a mysterious criminal who built a career out of defiance. It was kind of scary to think about, Edd thought, that while he was at work in a cubicle Tom was presumably out fighting.  _ What’s with the uniforms, too? And what was Diwi and Hellucard doing with him?  _ He hadn’t seen either of them for even longer than Matt and Tom. He completely did not expect to see Hellucard like that again, he only called him on the off chance that he would pick up and have any clues where Tom was since they lived relatively close to each other at the time. But no, he was in uniform like Tom, both guns pointed at Edd’s face. 

A bell chimed at the door and Edd looked up, but was met with disappointment when it was actually someone leaving instead. Reminded of his nerves, he realized he was tapping his foot repeatedly against the floor. Looking out the window begging for a distraction, London looked a lot different than the last time he was there. It seemed to change every time he visited the city, and every time it was pushed to a further extreme. Some parts were beautiful and advanced, brand new skyscrapers and massive hologram screens could be seen from above the buildings closest to Edd. Drones flew overhead, some commercial, some recreational, some governmental. Their purposes were varied, advertisements hung everywhere, he couldn't look in any direction without seeing an ad. This neon color palette made Edd’s aging eyes strained, and he often found himself looking at the ground when he walked instead. But in the nicer parts of town, things were too busy to not pay attention. That’s where everyone was, it was loud, the thunder of voices and music was too much for Edd to handle, he had no idea how Tom was able to stand it. On the opposite side of the coin, the worst part of the city was a complete dump. Since the overthrow, London had been rezoned into nine courts. A court consisted of a few blocks of street, and they each had their own attraction. First to third court was the high end place to be, where all the best businesses, hotels, and parks were. The middle courts, fourth to sixth, were for the average person. Sixth court specifically was zoned for small business, and that’s where he was now. It was what seemed to be the most familiar sight for him, and resembled what London used to look like. Seventh to ninth court was the low end, mostly for the residential working class to live. While driving into town, Edd passed by and got a glimpse of how bad it’d gotten. The city officials clearly didn’t bother to manage it at all, dumpsters were not taken out, spray paint covered all the buildings, and homeless people littered the streets. Edd felt sorry for them, even though money had been tight for himself too, it was no way to live.

Before he could think more about the logistics of being a small business owner in this new London, he saw a flash of a small framed man with the all recognizable visor pass the window and open the door. The bell chimed its pleasant welcoming tune and Tom appeared. He looked around and his eyes settled on Edd, a small smile raised the corners of his mouth. Edd’s face lit up and beckoned him to sit down, “hey you!”

“Damn, if I knew we were allowed to look scruffy I wouldn’t have shaved this morning,” Tom chuckled as he pointed to him.

“Hey! I don’t look that scruffy.”

“Yeah okay, you trying to grow out a dad beard or something?” Tom was fully smiling now, and it made Edd feel at ease, his nervousness tamed. 

For a few minutes they made small talk and ordered drinks for themselves. Talking to Tom was different than talking to Matt, but it was just as easy. Tom was always one to be a bit pessimistic, and as Edd aged it was easier for him to relate. The way Tom talked about things, it was like he was always the adult with the stress on his back, and in that way he didn’t change much from when they lived together. It was comforting too, unlike Matt who seemed to have calmed down a heavy amount, Tom still talked in the same low, flat tone. It didn’t matter if he was excited or depressed, he always sounded like he was tired of carrying the weight of the world.  _ Maybe he is, _ Edd thought to himself, and with that he wanted to bring up the subject. “So, Tom, I think we all knew this was coming.”

“Oh joy, go ahead.”

Edd drew in a breath, “what the hell was last week? Who were those guys? What were you wearing? And what’s with the guns-?”

“Keep your voice down!” Tom hushed at the mention of weapons, “okay okay, I admit I owe you an explanation.”

“Yes,  _ please _ .” he tilted his head expectantly. 

Tom sighed, “okay. What I’m about to tell you is pretty heavy, and you might not even believe me. And you cannot, under any circumstances, tell  _ anyone _ this, do you understand?” Edd nodded his head. “And if you did, I might just have to kill you.”

“Haha! Good one, Tom!” Edd slapped his knee in laughter, “always so hostile.”

“I’m serious.”

“Oh- yeah well, don’t worry about me, my mouth is sealed,” he zipped his lips as a visual.

“Alright,” Tom looked around to make sure no one was close by. “I’m guessing by the way you reacted to the RedBots that you aren’t the biggest fan of Red Leader either.”

“The Red Army? No, definitely not on Zanta’s nice list.”

“Good. Unlike everyone else who likes to sit around and wait for their asses to get arrested for nothing, I’m going to do something about it. So I formed a rebel group.” Tom leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms, Edd widened his eyes in awe. “It started out with just me and a couple of acquaintances, back when we were still living in the apartments.”

“This goes back that far? Why do I not know this?” Edd jutted in.

He held out a finger for him to wait before asking questions, “I wanted to keep it a secret for everyone’s safety. At the time, it was intended to be a lot more outright and violent than it ended up being. It was just an idea for a while, but as I got more guys into it, it grew into a really cool thing. We had the opportunity to set up an office space for our organization in London, and my name started getting out there...so, it was time I moved and stepped up to the responsibility.”

“You left because you became a terrorist?” Edd furrowed his brow, unsure how to feel of the story thus far.

“I guess you could say that.”

“You didn’t really answer my question though, why didn’t you tell me? And why does that mean never talk to me again?”

“I already told you, it was for your own safety. You  _ just _ had a baby with your wife, things were finally starting for you, I didn’t want anything to come back and get you guys. And they didn’t, until now anyway.”

“That’s not an excuse!” Edd stared at him, his voice growing frustrated, “we always told everything to each other. We were a team, why would you think that was a good enough reason to split from us?”

Tom didn’t really know how to respond, and looked away for a moment before answering, “I feel guilty about it, of course I do. Do you think it was easy for me to abandon my friends?”

“Apparently it was, and you preferred your new friends anyway.”

“Stop. It wasn’t like that, Edd. I’m serious.” Tom tried to put in effort to sound gentle, but it didn’t come out that way. “I know it must have hurt you, and I’m sorry, you have to believe that.”

They were interrupted by the waitress delivering what they had ordered and Edd silently took a minute to sip his coffee to mull over everything he heard thus far. There was anger grumbling within him, the emotion of all the time away from Tom came back from the deeper parts of himself, the confusion and feelings of abandonment threatened to be voiced.  _ All that time, Tom was really off on cool adventures killing robots and planning stealthy missions to overthrow the government, and what was I doing? Getting a divorce and suffering at my nine-to-five?  _ He had to stop himself from being upset, after all, maybe Tom had a point. What was he going to do, move to London with him? Stacy wouldn’t have liked that, and she wouldn’t have understood if he explained what was going on to her. If he was in the same situation but living in London, maybe his family would have ended up like those in ninth court, broke and homeless, begging for food and shelter. But there is no guarantee what could have happened if things went differently, he didn’t even know the full story. “Yeah, I believe you. So what did you do after you moved?”

Tom sipped from his still-too-hot froth of his coffee before answering, “I got to work. I carried myself through rent with two jobs and built up my group when I got home.”

“Didn’t you move in with your cousin? Was rent so bad that you needed two jobs?”

Tom seemed alarmed by the question, and quickly came up with a response, “uh, yeah. You know how expensive the city can be, and it’s only gotten worse with what’s been going on. Even with split rent it was a nightmare, almost had to bring in other roommates, it was this whole big thing.” He waved off the question and continued, “so anyway, our main focus was to build up this group like a company. We rented out space in this office building and faked all the legal documents. For all the government knows, we’re a restaurant review company.”

“A  _ restaurant review company _ ? How’d you come up with that?”

“It’s what required the least amount of paperwork, plus we get free food sometimes.”

“Ah.”

“So now that we were under the radar, it was a lot easier to stay underground. We got partnerships with other companies, we were supplied with weapons, more people joined the team, and now we’re here,” Tom finished.

“If pointing guns at your friend is ‘here’ then I’m not exactly sure what that means,” Edd said matter-of-factly.

Tom laughed and looked out the window into space, “well, that was a bit of a special situation, we thought you were someone else.”

Edd raised an eyebrow, “oh? Who?”

“Red Leader,” his smile faded, but still watched the people passing by. “I thought that note you left was him looking for you, so when we showed up and you were alone, I thought maybe you were working under him trying to get me. I’m glad that’s not the case though.”

“Yeah, no. I’m glad you think I’m smart and/or cool enough to be a part of a big scheme like that though!” Edd joked, however it didn’t look like Tom found it funny.

“But I don’t quite understand the way it worked out like that, why the note? And why call Hellucard? You didn’t even leave your name.”

“Oh, well, that’s easy enough. I was dropping Amy off at Stacy’s- oh yeah, maybe now’s not the time to mention this but she left me- anyway, I was in a hurry, that’s all there was to that call. To be honest I completely forgot to leave my name. I called him because he was the only one left in my contacts who still had the same number. Matt and Stacy didn’t have any leads, so I was desperate. As for the note, I already told you, I didn’t think anyone would see it. I thought maybe it would be poetic or some shit.” Edd tried to explain his side of the story in as much detail as possible.

“Well, I guess it worked. Oh uh, sorry about Stacy by the way, that’s kind of depressing.” Tom finished his coffee and was starting to get distracted by something that was happening on his phone. There was an anxiety in the way he moved his fingers to text something in response. 

“It is what it is.” Edd shrugged.

“Hey, listen, this has been great. But unfortunately I’ve gotta go, there’s a meeting about to happen at that base I was talking about, we’re planning something and I need to be there, I’ll have to catch up further another time,” he was already standing and stifling through his wallet to leave money for his portion of the bill. 

“Wait a minute, Tom!” Edd stood up after him. “Are you seriously leaving already?”

“Sorry, man, duty calls, I promise I’ll talk to you another time-”

Edd was already following his steps and putting money on the table, not paying attention to the fact it was more than he needed to pay, “wait, I could come with you!” He followed Tom outside and Tom stopped.

“What, no! Edd come on, you shouldn’t get involved in this more than you already have. I’ll see you around okay?” He turned away and began walking at a brisk pace, typing something on his phone. Edd slumped his shoulders defeatedly and looked at the ground. Squinting his eyes, he had an idea, and caught up with Tom. Walking silently behind him, he was determined to join him on whatever adventure he was going on. Tom didn’t notice him, he was too busy frantically responding to a conversation with his colleagues. He seemed to know exactly where he was going despite not looking up from his phone. He weaved between pedestrians with ease, keeping his rushed stride steady. Edd followed him for two blocks until the number of people started getting more crowded and it was harder to see the top of his head over the mass. On the border of the fifth and sixth court, Tom entered the nearest subway entrance. Lagging behind him now, Edd trailed down the stairs after him. When he turned the corner he had to look for Tom among the travelers, and found him in line to check in with his subway card. Pulling out his own, they passed through the electric gates with a scan and a beep. Edd was gaining on him now, and had to keep his distance. The subway train arrived within the same minute, and in one swift motion, Tom got on, still not looking up from his phone.  _ City people are something else, how can you get around without bumping into something? _

Finally, Tom sat down in a set of seats that no one occupied. Edd made his move. Plopping himself down with a heavy sigh, he let his back rest against the wall and crossed his arms. Tom glanced in his direction, then did a double take. When he realized, he jumped, “Edd!” A couple people looked his way and Tom hushed himself, “what the  _ hell _ are you doing here?”

“I followed you.”

“What,  _ why? _ ” Tom was bewildered yet impressed with his stamina.

“Because, if you’re going to move to a new city and abandon all your friends for this group and their cool awesome office building, I should at least get to see what was so worthwhile,” he tried to keep his details vague so no one around him could hear. Besides, in a public space such as this, they were probably being watched and listened to.

“That doesn’t make any- don’t you have anywhere to be? What about Amy?” Tom argued.

“At her grandmother’s.”

“What about work tomorrow?”

“I won’t get home that late, I think.” Edd wasn’t entirely convinced.

Tom groaned and hung his head, “I’m not going to get rid of you am I?”

“Nope.” Edd said triumphantly.

“Fine. You can see the building since you’re so curious. But I was serious when I said I was going to a meeting. When we get there, don’t touch anything, got it? Don’t ask me what anything is, don’t talk to people, don’t read anything. Just- don’t fuck anything up, okay?”

Edd took offense to his warning, “what do you think I’m gonna do, blow up the building?”

“I don’t know, just, don’t make any more work for me.” Tom pointed at him accusingly and his phone went off again. His attention drawn back to his messages, he began tapping away at the screen. The rest of the subway ride was short lived, as they only traveled to the fourth court. The fourth court was centered around business, characterized by its skyscrapers with many screens on the sides. Bright neon lights blinded its visitors even in broad daylight, and everyone walking around had suits and dresses on. Even on a Sunday, people were walking with purpose in their step, getting to where they needed to be in a timely manner. As they stepped out to the streets, Edd began to feel very out of place. He looked washed up compared to the prim outfits of the businesspeople that whizzed by him. Tom blended in fine, though, he was wearing a grey button up shirt and dress pants. But even in that, he looked underdressed. Luckily no one was paying attention to them, and he didn’t feel too many eyes on him as he stepped in pace with Tom who finally managed to peel his gaze from his device. 

They walked a couple of blocks until they came to a less crowded street. The buildings stood a little further apart, and most of the space was taken up by parking lots. Edd was taken away with the sights of the shimmering windows in the sun until Tom stopped in place. He looked over to him and nodded his head to the building to the right. “Here she is, very thrilling I know.” Edd looked up, it was shorter than the buildings next to it, but still spanned pretty high, around twenty stories he’d say. There wasn’t anything too special about it, which was probably an advantage for them, they wouldn’t want to stand out or have any features to remember. Edd still tried to take notes though, he noticed that its parking lot was small and had very limited spacing, and in that spacing every spot was filled. Tom walked in and Edd followed, the lobby had no one in it, with elevators on either side. Tom eyed the empty front desk,  _ perhaps there is supposed to be someone there? _ Together they said nothing, and Tom summoned the elevator with a press of the button. When they got in, he punched in the highest floor, Edd’s prediction was spot on, twenty. Tom turned his digital gaze to him, “remember, don’t touch anything.”

Edd responded in only a nod, the first thing he saw when they arrived was a perpendicular hallway with an opening to an office space immediately in front of him. In his line of sight there was someone sitting at a desk who looked up at Tom. They looked at Edd and raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything to them. Tom stepped out and smiled back with pride, “this is it, welcome to The Blue Order!” A couple more people poked their head out to see who Tom was talking to, and one waved at him in greeting. Edd exited the elevator and started following him as he made his way to the left. There were two more strangers sharing cups of water from an office water dispenser. Edd took note of the fact that no one was wearing the uniforms that they wore during the shooting, was it on purpose? Edd didn’t know. As they passed, the strangers shared confused glances when they noticed his unfamiliar face. He tried to take in his surroundings as clearly as possible, but there wasn’t much to take note of. It looked like a regular office building, much like his own workplace. He assumed that was the point, to seem inconspicuous, to blend in.  _ I better get to see some cool laser guns or something, was this really worth seeing?  _

“There you are, boss!” a calm voice called to them from the doorway that Tom was about to turn into.

“Hello, all. Sorry I’m late, I was out somewhere,” Tom tossed a glance back at Edd. He finally got a glimpse of who he was talking to, and immediately recognized the figure as one of the guys he saw last week with the dull blond hair and dangling earrings. The man locked eyes with him, and his eyes grew concerned. He flicked his gaze back to Tom and gave him a look like he thought he was crazy. “Don’t worry, I’ll explain everything,” he said quietly. Tom waved at Edd to follow him inside. The lights were dimmed and a large screen was lit on the far wall, a round table centered the floor where more recognizable figures sat. Among them, Hellucard was hunched over the laptop that was connected to the projector, clicking a mouse trying to find something. Diwi was there too, flipping through papers that were taken out of a folder labeled ‘RedBots: London’. Edd recognized a couple other people from the docks and the rest of the seats were filled with strangers. Many of them had laptops of their own out, typing or watching, everyone seemed engrossed with something important. Upon their arrival however, a couple heads perked up to greet Tom. One person from the docks shot Edd a glare from where she was sitting.

His perception was interrupted by Tom giving him a direction, “take a seat at the table if you want, we’re just going to do our thing.”

“Uh, yeah. Sure, go ahead,” he said awkwardly and took a seat between the dusty blond who just sat down too and the last remaining seat who he assumed would be Tom’s. He tracked Tom, who was going over to Hellucard and exchanging quiet words with him. Edd saw him peeking at him multiple times out of the corner of his eye as Tom spoke, confirming that they were indeed talking about him. Edd gulped, it was obvious that everyone in the room was not fond of the newcomer, and the ones who knew of him were acting rather hostile. He got a tap on the shoulder and jumped, it was the blond, who put his hand on a cardboard box and slid it in front of Edd. 

“Want some?” he asked.

He opened it and inside was the deliciously sweet sight of assorted donuts, “oh, yes please, thank you.” He nodded shyly in appreciation. Taking the kind gesture literally, maybe they didn’t mean to look so...defensive. He started to sympathize, it made sense to be protective. If he was in some super secret treasonous organization, he wouldn’t want some dude in a giant black trench coat walking in unannounced either.  _ But at the same time, give me a break guys,  _ you  _ pointed the guns at  _ me. Taking a bundle of white powdery goodness, the man gave a satisfied smile as Edd accepted the gift. Tom stood next to the screen and cleared his throat, everyone looked at him.

“Okay people, we don’t have a lot of time so let’s just put all our heads together, yeah? But before we dive in, everyone say hello to our guest here today. This is Edd, he is a very old friend of mine,” he gestured to where he was sitting and suddenly he felt many pairs of eyes on him. 

“Hey Edd,” Hellucard gave a friendly wave, a few others greeted him as well to be polite. 

“He was the one behind the dock situation as we discussed, now you can put a face to the name,” Tom continued.  _ Yup, that’s me, the dock guy. The one you almost shot a dozen holes into! Thanks for that, by the way,  _ he thought to himself sarcastically. Tom then went on to introduce the situation. Edd didn’t quite understand the context of everything, but through the explanation, he gathered enough details to conclude that one of the members of the order was called into the police station for questioning. She was labeled for being suspicious, but he didn’t catch what happened that would make her so. Regardless, she was waiting on them to pick her up after questioning, or potentially helping her escape if things got ugly. They spoke in a lot of coded language, and he understood why. In work like this, you can’t afford to be explicit in the things you say. Unfortunately though, that meant that their voices dropped off into a thick void, where they droned on about things he didn’t understand. Instead he zoned out, and in his stare into space, he started to admire the way that Tom spoke to them. He felt a lot of pride for his friend, it was inspiring to see someone who was never much of a leader take a responsible role. He could tell by the way people stopped to listen to him that they really respected him. He was much better at public speaking than he used to be, his voice was clear and concise. He listened and responded to others with mutual respect, it was really quite honorable. He felt the same way when he spoke with Matt, it seemed like both his best friends have made great lives for themselves in the time spent away. Tom had people who relied on him, people to lead, and Matt had a family who he loved. A spark of jealousy pricked at his skin, while he was sitting there shyly munching on a donut, Tom was up at the front of the room. The roles had switched, Edd was always the mom of the family. He was the one who liked making plans and organizing little details.  _ That’s okay, dynamics change I suppose,  _ he thought to himself,  _ I bet he’s still a baby at home though. The man couldn’t even make noodles without almost burning the house down.  _

Edd heard someone suggest action, “we should get to the station as soon as possible, then. Jenna called at 11:43 and it’s been an hour, they can’t be too long right?”

“I agree we should leave now,” Tom answered, “but I’m not too sure, she’s not going to talk. I have my doubts they would let her go so lightly.”

“He’s right,” Hellucard responded, he was closing out of his laptop. “I’ve dealt with enforcers before, they like to take their sweet ass time with these things.” 

“We can knock out a few birds with one stone then. I didn’t get to finish my circle run the other day, the station is in eighth court anyway right? While we wait, we can split off into three teams. One can post outside the station with a car to pick her up and wait for the call. The second will wait on standby somewhere close if they need backup, and the third team can finish the run.”

“I like this plan,” someone said. There were more murmurs of support. 

Tom started organizing the teams, people started talking amongst themselves now and moving around. Edd got up and made his way over to him, “so what team am I on?”

“What?” he answered with a raised brow.   
  


“The mission! What team am I on?” Edd was excited, he badly wanted to see them in action.

Tom pinched his nose and groaned, “Edd, you’re not on any team. You’re not coming with us.” Edd’s expression dropped.

“What? Why! It sounds like you need a lot of help, I’m an extra pair of hands, why can’t I come with you?” Tom was turning away and directed someone else while he pleaded. 

“No no no, you need to go home. I let you watch because you literally followed me here, this is work now, you can’t come. Besides, you won’t know what to do anyway,” he was walking away now.

Edd grabbed his shoulder and yanked him back, “then direct me. I know how to fight, we were just doing it last week. Come on Tom, please? We used to do things like this all the time, I didn’t get soft! I have nothing going on today, I promise I won’t get in your way.”

Tom struggled not to get annoyed and noticed the glint in his eye. He studied his face for a moment, he was yearning for battle, itching to move. He felt bad, the truth was, he wished Edd could come, but the possibility of danger told his gut that it wasn’t a good idea. Of course he wanted Edd in the order, he always did. But what would he do if something went wrong? “I don’t know, man…”

“Please?” Edd blinked at him, taking advantage of the fact that he got on his soft side. Tom was always susceptible to moving on a subject if you schmoozed him the right way. 

He let out a long defeated sigh, “ _ fine.  _ You’re on team three with Medi, that’s the guy who was sitting next to you at the table.”

“Yay! What does team three do? Are we going to crush some tin cans?” Edd was practically bouncing with excitement with enough energy to run a mile. 

“No,” he replied, unamused. Tom went over to his seat and opened a black bookbag. He pulled out a can of bright blue spray paint and handed it to him, “you’re going to need one of these.”

-

“That’s it? What’s that gonna do?” Edd raised an eyebrow at Tom. They were in a back alleyway between two storefronts in the eighth court. Medi was a couple buildings down fulfilling his own tasks. It was midday, but despite the time there weren’t many people around, which was kind of unusual. This part of town was pretty musty, it smelled like cigarette smoke and there were needles littering the ground in some places. He could hear kids playing from a block away, there was a park bordering the residential and business parts of the court. Edd noticed the severe lack of homeless people where he was. This was the eighth court, and just a few hours earlier he had seen many on this very street, but it sat vacant now. Tom said that enforcers periodically came around to shoo them away, but a few hours later they would just come back to the same spot. Edd questioned this, but he couldn’t provide an answer. In that moment he was grateful that the police activity was relatively low where he lived and he didn’t have to deal with the constant bitching of the corrupt officers. 

Tom was just done explaining to him that a ‘circle run’ is when members of the Blue Order would take their signature colored spray paint and draw circles over Red Army posters. This was his task now, as Tom was in group two, a job where he would wait for the call of backup in case Jenna, the order member being questioned by the police, got into some trouble. He was disappointed that he didn’t get a cooler task, and expressed his distaste for it. Tom shook his head, “plenty of things. For one, it’s a branding thing. You could look at a poster and go, ‘yup, that’s the work of the Blue Order!’ or at least, that’s the plan.”

“Okay, but why his face?” Edd pointed to the poster they were about to deface. It depicted another cartoon of Red Leader, this time he was pushing a shopping cart that held reusable items such as plastic jugs, cans, cardboard boxes, and bottles. The message was to encourage citizens to reuse their containers to save resources for the war effort. It was an older print now, coming out at the beginning of the year when Denmark still stood as an independent nation. At the time, there was a huge drainage of metals, and companies started using more plastic as an effort to use less aluminum. The result, materials that were harder to recycle and took more money to produce started coming out, pushing prices higher and putting some brands out of business completely. The poster was a haunting ghost of that time, and seeing Red Leader’s smile over the situation made Edd angry. 

“We put it over his face because it’s a way of drawing attention to the issue without dismissing it from view. You could just as easily draw an X over his face and get the point across, right? But it’s not about that. No, we don’t support him and we want him out of office, but there’s a deeper issue than that. Look at his smug little face,” Tom faced the poster, “he makes you mad doesn’t he? You just want to spit on him, don’t you? Rip his stupid fucking throat out?” His eyes narrowed at his sworn enemy.

“Yeah, a little extreme but sure.”

“That face is important to see. If you cover it up, it’s out of sight and therefore out of mind. The circle draws your attention to him, it says ‘hey look, this is the problem, this guy right here, look at how much pain he caused.’ I want them to look at him and think of the pain.”

“And it still shows the audience that you are against him, I see what you mean now,” Edd held his chin while observing, trying to picture the same poster with the circle on it. “And the blue is a contrast to the red, even though they aren’t opposite of the color wheel people tend to consider them opposites. Blue of course being the calm docile one and red being the aggressor.”

“Yeah, all that art people shit too. That last thing you said was on purpose though, we don’t want to look aggressive to the public. Just- send a message.”

“But I thought you guys were terrorists.” Edd said nonchalantly.

“Well, yes, we are. Let me correct myself, we don’t want to seem aggressive  _ right now. _ When the time is right I’m taking the sniper shot at Red Leader’s head no problem.” They shared a laugh at the sentiment. “But yeah, do you see it now?”

“Well I got the point right away, I think the overall message is obvious. It’s a bit cryptic though, I’ll admit. Do you always plan on being so underground? No one knows what the Blue Order is, at least I don’t. Are you famous and I don’t know?” Edd shook the spray can.   
  


“We are known by a small portion of the city, but no you couldn’t ask anyone about it and expect that they’d know. And I’d like to keep it that way. The longer we can stay hidden the better, as soon as we draw attention to ourselves we start risking the Reds investigating us-” just then, a beep came from a little device clipped to Tom’s belt. These were given to all of the members before they left, it’s a communication device separate from their phones to prevent government tracking. “Speaking of, that’s our cue, looks like we were needed after all. Gotta run, you can handle this yeah? Talk to Medi if you need anything.” With that, Tom ran off. 

Alone with a job to do, Edd watched him scurry away. He gained a little more respect for his mission now that it was explained a bit better, but he still wished he was off fighting with Tom and his friends. He knew that’s where he really belonged, on the front lines of justice, crushing skulls and making history.  _ I guess in my own little way, I’m making history by doing this too, _ he thought while uncapping the paint. He looked at Red Leader’s face again, it didn’t look anything like him. He was too babyfaced, and his eyes gleamed with pride. He had chubbier cheeks and fluffier hair. Sure, it was for propaganda, he needed to look like a cute mascot, but it was all wrong. Never in all his years of knowing that man did he ever look like that, honestly, it made Edd lose a bit of respect for him that he was willing to shell off his real self for the sake of public perception.  _ Besides, you’re like forty something now dude, drop the young dictator fantasy. We all wish we were hot again, I know.  _ He rolled his eyes but it was kind of funny too. While spraying the paint he couldn’t help but think of him and their memories,  _ forty-two. Your birthday just passed didn’t it? I’ll be forty-two soon too… _

The circle was pretty sloppy, he applied uneven pressure to the spray, leaving it runny in some places and sparse in others. But, it got the job done, and he started scanning the rest of the alley for other posters. He spotted another one, but it had its own circle already. It was almost ripped off and clearly very old. He guessed that the city didn’t pay too close attention to the decoration of this part of town. With a nod to his head confirming to himself he was done in this area, he walked out. There were only a couple people milling around, an older man sitting on a bench outside a barber shop and a woman walking her dog on the other side of the street. Neither paid any attention to him, so as he walked he peeped between the buildings until he spotted Medi. He was in the middle of painting when he greeted Edd. “This spot is done, go down to the next one.”

“Right,” Edd responded. He stood there watching him for a second and wondered what to say. 

Medi kept looking at him from the corner of his eye. He was wearing a bandana over his mouth and a hoodie with the hood up, only his eyes peeked out. Turning towards him, he asked, “are you going on with it or what?”

Edd didn’t really notice it before because he didn’t hear him talk much, but it was apparent that Medi didn’t have the same accent, he sounded American. “Yeah it’s just-”

“You nervous? Don’t worry, it’s just paint, no one’s gonna kill you. Well, maybe…” he laughed. 

“It’s not that, no. Just,” he walked over to him and watched as he sprayed another circle, “don’t you wish you were responding to that ping right now?” He was going to ask about the accent, but decided it would be better to get acquainted a tad more before asking potentially personal questions. 

“Not necessarily, no. Why?”

“It just seems more fun and important is all.”

“All jobs are equally as important. Your name’s Edd, right? Edd, the Order is a team, we work together. We go around and switch roles all the time, sometimes that means not doing the most thrilling thing. Besides, I don’t really feel like dying today.”

Edd liked his energy, he was very comfortable to be around. He was easy to talk to, despite him not saying much. He made him feel less like an outsider at the meeting, and he appreciated that he made an effort to cool down any nerves while out on a mission. “I wish I could share that sentiment,” he joked.

“Oh, so you have a death wish?” Medi poked fun at him, “I see why you and Tom are friends now.”

He responded with a light laughter. Edd didn’t really know how to segway into the conversation, so he waited a moment before they both walked to the next alley. While Edd sprayed, he asked without turning to look at him, “so...where are you from? You don’t sound English.”

“Oh, I’m American.” 

“I thought so! So like, what brings you to Europe? This isn’t really a great place to be, do you live here? I guess so because you’re in the Order. That kinda sucks, since we’re at war with the states right now-”

Suddenly Medi didn’t sound interested, “this wall’s clear, I’m heading to the next one.” Edd blinked. When he turned to look at him, he was already gone.  _ Okay, or not… _

He was alone again, and was wondering how far away Tom was now. He didn’t hear any commotion, so nothing really bad must be happening. Not knowing the area too well, he searched on his phone where the police station was. It wasn’t too far away, so on an impulse, he headed in that direction. He would feel bad for ditching Medi, but it looked like he got it plenty covered already. Besides, Edd didn’t really feel like being in an awkward social encounter until further notice.  _ Tom stuck me here because he didn’t want me to do anything important, well I’ll show him.  _ For the most part it was a straight shot, all he needed to do was go straight for a block and turn right, but he knew that wasn’t the way to go about this. For starters, he was on the ground, he would have no tactical advantage that way. He needed to be up high, the elevated eagle eye would allow him to scan the situation better. Secondly, Tom can’t find out Edd left his post, if they needed his help he would be there, but he can’t just walk into danger. Besides, putting anyone in harm’s way would take away any chance of trust with him, and that’s the last thing Edd wanted. 

Taking inspiration from his adventure the week before, he spotted a stairwell up to the roof of an apartment complex. His legs wobbled a bit remembering his jumps from roof to roof, but he was confident he wasn’t going to pull any stunts like that this time. This roof was a few stories higher than the ones around it, this was a purposeful move. Above all else, he wanted to make sure no one saw him on either side, being the highest up is the best possible play. He gulped when he looked down as he kept climbing higher, the wind was blowing harder up there too. Deafening his footsteps on the iron bars of the stairs he took his pistol out of his pocket in preparation. He had more ammo since running out last weekend, which proved to be a much more expensive task than he would have liked. He had to purchase it from a dealer in his town because any weaponry, especially gun related, has been banned for a long time. Making sure it was indeed loaded but with the safety on, he held it ready in his hand next to his hip. The stairs ended just a bit short of the roof, so he hoisted himself over. It was clear, he was alone. He tried to tune into all the noises around him before peering over the edge, there were a few different things going on. He heard cars below driving by, the children playing before were a lot quieter now, and there was a woman on her phone coming from an open window. Nothing dangerous, Edd concluded.  _ So if nothing’s going on, why was Tom pinged?  _

He decided it was safe enough to peer over the edge, and immediately he shrank back into his cover. There was Tom, just below him. Apparently the order had the same idea as Edd did, both of the buildings in front of him held a few members on their roofs. Tom and someone else laid on their stomachs, the stranger pointing a sniper rifle at the entrance of the station. The other building held three members, including Diwi, who was paying attention to a device with headphones on. Edd heard no one speak, so he assumed no one noticed him up there. This was a good thing, he was in the right place. They were waiting for something, and Edd realized that the ping was not alerting Tom of danger at all, just wanted him at his post.  _ Lame,  _ Edd thought,  _ now I have to sit here.  _

He wanted to scope out his surroundings a little more, so he walked over to the other three edges to take a look. On one side nobody was below, clear. The other side led out to the street and he watched some of the traffic go by, calm and quiet. The third side gave a better look at the building Tom was on, and immediately he noticed there was a third member on the roof too. They were posted a little ways away, behind an air vent, predictably so that they were not seen. They were crouched and had a gun out as well, held tightly against their chest. Edd was going to look away, since he potentially was in their line of sight, but he noticed something. This person wasn’t looking at his direction, but rather repeatedly casting glances behind the air vent where the other boys sat idly. Edd looked closer, they weren’t wearing the same things as the order was, they were wearing all black. He also didn’t recognize this figure from the meeting either, and as they took aim at his ally, Edd realized this person wasn’t a member at all. 

What could he do? Time slowed down, he couldn’t yell for Tom, it would put the mission in jeopardy. It seems there was only one option. His heart beat faster, raising the gun in front of him he took off the safety and took aim. He wanted to be sure of his shot but a loud bang made his hand tense and the gun flared. Multiple shots sounded from his right, the assassin fell, everything started happening at once. Edd gulped and put the gun down, Tom was getting up from his spot and the person next to him fired another sniper round below. It was clear that the shot was drowned out by the action below that no one even noticed what happened on the rooftops. Tom called back to his partner and he got up too. They headed to where they could get down to the ground and passed the body of the assassin, who was slumped over and bleeding out onto the concrete. Tom jumped back in surprise and held back his partner who was now at his side. Edd couldn’t do anything but watch, he wanted to yell out, do anything. But the shock grounded him in place, his feet glued solidly to the roof. His heart was racing but his thoughts were faster.  _ Are they...dead? _

Tom was rapidly looking around for an answer until his sight settled on Edd, who was standing on the roof facing them with the sun behind his back. His expression was blank, and he didn’t say anything. Gun still in his hand, it was clear that he saved Tom’s life. “Edd! What are you doing here?” he called out. But he didn’t answer, just stared at them. “Edd! Come on, we need to get out of here, we got two officers and counting.” As he said it, more shots fired between Diwi’s roof and the guns on the ground. People were yelling now, the woman on her phone let out a scream as a gunman missed and glass shattered. There was a screech of tires from in front of the station that pulled away into the street. 

Edd heard him, but it was hard to get himself to move. Desperate to get himself together, another gunshot that was too close for comfort brought him back to reality. In the same moment, a piece of concrete from the roof edge just feet away from him burst out into crumbles.  _ Uh oh, that means they’re shooting at  _ me. Seeing where Tom was escaping, Edd hopped over the edge of the roof onto the stairs. The alleyway led out to the other side of the street towards the station, and through the opening he saw a few officers with guns pointing up and shooting at the roof he was just on. Flying down the stairwell, he tried to avoid being seen by them. In front of him, two police cars turned and started chasing after the runaway car. Realizing he lost track of where Tom went, he assumed that they went over to the other side of the building. He decided the best course of action was to retrace his steps and find Medi. 

A few people were running around the street and going into buildings as well. This would prove to be decent cover, because as Edd shoved his gun in his pocket, a group of enforcers turned the corner and whizzed by him. As he was nearing the place where he started the circle run earlier, someone grabbed the back of his coat collar and dragged him through the door of a small convenience store. Whipping around to see who it was, the familiar face of Medi made him settle down a little bit. There were other people in the store too, the cashier crouched behind the counter looking terrified and a few shoppers hid behind shelves. Medi didn’t have his bandana or hood on anymore, presumably so that he didn’t look involved in the crime. “Jesus, dude look out, those police officers could have steamrolled you!” The tone in which he spoke gave a clue that Medi was trying to act as if they did not know each other. 

Edd took his lead, “thanks, man. You’re right, I was just walking when I heard those shots.”

“Same here,” Medi replied, “do you have any idea where they might have come from? You were coming from that direction.” He shot Edd an angry look. 

“Uh, yeah it sounded like it was coming from the police station, that’s over that way right? Looks like an escaped criminal.” Edd was fully aware that Medi was trying to ask what he was doing at the station, but he wasn’t fully ready to admit he left his post. After all, he needed to be there, if not for him Tom would be dead right now. 

He nodded and together they sat for a little bit in the back of the store with the other shoppers. Medi was typing in the group chat of the order members for a while. In the meantime, Edd had time to drown in his worries. That person on the roof, they were dead weren’t they? He shot them, they died, there was no way they could have survived.  _ I didn’t mean to!  _ He fretted,  _ I was aiming for their leg, I wanted to injure them, not kill them! What have I done, I’m a murderer now.  _ He’s done illegal things before, sure, but this time was different. He had never taken someone’s life before this, this blood was on his hands and his hands alone. It was accidental, it wasn’t even self-defense, he killed someone.  _ Technically, I don’t really know that… _ he tried to rationalize himself,  _ I wasn’t down there to check. They could have just been injured. Besides, they were going to kill Tom, what else was I supposed to do? This is all so fucked up.  _

Medi interrupted his thoughts with him showing his phone screen to Edd. It was a member saying that Jenna and her designated driver had switched vehicles and were on their way back to safety. The police cars didn’t dispatch fast enough to reach them. Edd nodded in understanding of the update, and watched as Medi switched applications and typed out something. Showing him the screen again, it was a notes app with words he couldn’t say out loud.

You have to leave first. Pretend like youre parked somewhere close

Ill follow you out just wait for me

Edd followed his direction and informed everyone in the store that he needed to get home fast and he was only parked a little bit down the street. Medi pretended to try and convince him to stay and that it was still a risk, but he played it off. The gunshots were practically gone now, and the ones that were there stayed in the distance. Outside he waited for Medi, the assassin on the roof still at the front of his mind. Medi didn’t even turn to look at him as he walked out and made way for the subway station. “Tom and Cole are on their way back. Diwi, Ryan, and Marissa took our car, so we have to take the subway. Care to explain what the hell you were doing over there?”

Edd didn’t know how to respond, “I guess I just wanted to be useful.”

“Yeah, well,” Medi dismissed him, “you could have gotten hurt.”

“ _ Actually, _ ” he pointed out matter of factly, “I saved Tom’s life back there, did he mention that?” 

“You did? No, he didn’t.”

“I did. There was a person on the roof aiming a gun at him from behind, I...took them out I guess.”

  
  


Medi looked impressed, “huh.” They boarded the subway train without issue and he smiled at Edd, “I guess I should be giving you more credit then.”

-

They were the last to arrive back on the twentieth floor of the Blue Order headquarters and the stir finally seemed to be calming down. While trying to find Tom amongst the hustle of people, he caught details regarding the fate of Jenna. The consensus was that she needed to change her name and appearance. Now that the police were after her, she needed to create an entirely new identity, including relocating her household. She and her husband now had to move and create new legal documents. These were all things the order could help her accomplish, but Edd still felt horrible.  _ I guess that’s the risk though with these things. She signed up for this. _

“There you are.” Tom sounded behind him, he didn’t seem very happy.

Turning to face him, he was crossing his arms and the pixelated glare in his visor flickered between Edd’s eyes. “I can explain-”

“Yeah, I’m sure you can, but I’m going to be honest with you, I don’t care.”

“Tom, please, that person was going to kill you, I had no other choice!”

“ _ I know, _ ” Tom put both hands on Edd’s shoulders and let his tough demeanor go to reveal a smirk underneath. “Thank you. I owe you my life, Edd.” Edd blinked in surprise, he didn’t know what to say. “Fuck, man. If you could be that useful all the time, I guess it wouldn’t be so bad to let you come around more often. Maybe I underestimated you after all.”

“Really?” Edd’s eyes brightened.

“Yeah.” Tom’s cheeks raised into a smile, “I’m proud of you, man. Keep this up, and I might have to make you a member of the order.”

“No way! Of course I’d want to be! You’d really let me in?”

“Maybe. But don’t worry about that right now, you should be heading home and getting some rest. I’ll be in touch,” he was turning to walk away and let Edd see himself out. “Remember, don’t tell anyone what happened today, got it? Shit is top secret. Have a good rest of your night, Edd.”

“Goodnight, Tom. And don’t worry, your secret is safe with me!”

-

“And then when we got back, he said he would consider making me a member of the order! Isn’t that amazing?” Edd was in his own kitchen, holding his cell phone between his cheek and shoulder while putting away the dishes he just washed. 

“Wow, Edd, that sure is...a lot,” Matt said slowly, not entirely sure if he heard his story correctly.

“He said he’d keep in touch, so I have a feeling we’ll be out doing some cool shit again in a few days. Edd and Tom, back at it again, causing trouble and pissing off cops. And I  _ still _ got home at a reasonable hour, booyah!”

“Sounds physically exhausting, to be honest. Aren’t you tired after running around the city all day?” He sounded distracted, he was feeding his newborn during their conversation. 

“I’m sure it’ll hit me in an hour or so, but right now? Nah, I could fight a bull.” Edd, now done with his mundane chores, started pacing around the living room. “Matt, you  _ have  _ to come with me next time. Can you imagine how fun it would be to ruffle some feathers, just the three of us again?”

Matt responded quickly before he could go on, “I don’t know about that, Edd. It sounds pretty dangerous, and I got a lot going on in my portion of the world. Isn’t that right, Rain? You’re a little handful, aren’t you?” His voice raised to a playful tone and Edd heard babbling of the baby on the other end. “Seriously, though. I don’t think that’s a good idea. To be honest I’m not so sure why you’re risking it yourself.”

“It was hardly a risk! It was more thrilling than taxing.”

“But you said Tom almost  _ died _ didn’t you? That guy almost killed him, if it wasn’t for his friend you both could have been gone.”

“Yeah…” Edd felt the back of his neck get hot, he had lied about shooting the assassin and said it was another member who did it instead. It’s not that he didn’t trust Matt to know, but rather because he couldn’t face the truth himself. “But they mostly have everything under control. Come on, Matt, don’t you feel like you want to do something? Like,  _ really _ do something about the Red Army? I finally feel like I have an opportunity to help others, and being with my best friend is just an added bonus! It could be an ‘us’ thing, you know? The three of us could be a team again. I could drop your name over the phone next time and-”

“Edd.” Matt’s voice was stern but sympathetic, “of course I’d love to hang out with you and Tom some time, but...leave me out of this political stuff. I have a family to take care of, if something were to happen to me or worse, something happened to them, I don’t know how I could forgive myself. We can’t lose another member of this family.”

There was silence for a second, “yeah, I see what you mean. I guess we’ll just have to go out together sometime then.” Edd wasn’t sure if he was trying to lift Matt’s spirits or his own.

“I’d love that,” he said softly. Sounding more chipper, Matt yawned and said, “looks like that’s my cue to relax for the night, get some shut eye before this one wakes me up again in the middle of the night. Goodnight, Edd, talk to you soon.”

“Goodnight to you too,” and with that, Edd hung up. He sighed,  _ it looks like getting the guys back together again is going to be harder than I thought.  _ He thought Matt had a point though, he was a business owner with a busy schedule, and five other members of the house that relied on him. The only person Edd had to take care of was Amy,  _ speaking of which. _ It was getting late, the moon was high in the sky and it was long past curfew. The town Edd lived in required no one leaving the house past nine in the evening, so outside was completely silent other than the rustling of the cold autumn wind. The sound of the TV in Amy’s room hummed quietly down the hall, and bright flashes of light flickered at the bottom of her door. Edd knocked softly and opened the door to find her laying over a bean bag on the floor, looking up at her cartoons. “Hey kiddo, it’s after ten, time for bed.”

“Can’t I stay up for five more minutes? My show’s going to end soon,” she whined, burying her face into the plush bag.

“It’s way past bedtime, come on,” he urged, walking up to her bed and folding back the comforter. Amy groaned but obeyed, she turned off the TV and yawned as she crawled into bed. “How was your day at grandma’s?”

“Good. We made biscuits.”

“Oh, that’s fun, were they tasty?”

“Yeah…” she clearly wasn’t interested in this conversation, so she cut to the chase, “where were  _ you  _ all day?”

“Me? I thought I told you, I was meeting my friend Tom. You know,  _ Uncle _ Tom,” he cocked his head to the side. 

“All day?” She didn’t sound convinced.

Edd was confused why she thought he was being suspicious, and grew a little nervous that she had been listening to his conversation with Matt. “Well, you know, he showed me around his part of the city, and it takes a bit to get there with driving and all that. Why? What do you think I was doing?” He asked in a joking manner. 

“I don’t know…” she trailed off, shrugging. 

“Well I can assure you, I would never lie to you, goodnight,” he kissed her forehead and stood up. Matt’s words echoed in his head  _ ‘if something were to happen to me or worse, something happened to them, I don’t know how I could forgive myself’.  _ He felt guilty, what if Matt was right? What if it was Edd who got shot that day, and he left his own flesh and blood without a father?  _ But I didn’t die,  _ he argued,  _ and I am here for you.  _ As he walked out of her bedroom, he quietly shut the door behind him. Getting the last peek at her before going to bed himself, he assured his conscious of one thing,  _ I’ll always be here for you. _


	5. A Piece Lost

Matt set his work bag on the kitchen table and sighed, another long day at work. The story Edd told him over the phone a couple days before still clung to the back of his mind. What was he thinking, getting into trouble like that? He could have gotten killed, or worse. He didn't want to think about all the awful things that the enforcers would have done if he had gotten caught. Matt had plenty of experience with enforcers. Ever since Demeter was taken away, a Red Army officer came to Matt's household at least once a week- every week- to check on them. It settled into a routine of being Wednesdays after Matt came home from work, but there were rare occasions where the officer would show up at random times- sometimes even in the middle of the night. Matt assumed this was so that they would surprise him in case they were doing something suspicious, but they never were. Truthfully, Matt and the rest of his family had no idea his daughter was involving herself in crime. If he had known, he would have put a stop to it. Not because he disagreed with her passion, but because he didn’t want her to get caught. If she had told him, he would have done anything to protect her. But that was months ago, and Matt had to go on with life without her.

“Dad?” a little girl peeked her head out from the corner. Her name was Tatianna, the second youngest child in the family at seven years old. 

Matt beamed at his daughter, “yes, sunshine?”

“Can you come braid my hair while we watch cartoons?” she bounced excitedly. 

“Of course I can, just let me get situated here, okay? I’ll be right there.” Matt tucked his work bag into the corner of the room and unbuttoned the collar of his shirt. Demeter may be gone, but he had to focus on the people he still had. Trying to keep her out of his mind, he went into the living room to see Tatianna sat on the floor setting out different colored beads she wanted to put in her hair. This was an activity that she loved to do with him, Matt’s bond with her was especially strong, she was his little angel. Her siblings, Robin and Roy, were on the couch behind her watching TV. They all greeted him as he walked in and Matt began the intricate braids. He tried catching up with them, he liked being in touch with what his children were doing,  _ especially  _ Roy. Roy was thirteen, and was very close to Demeter. Like her, he was going through an edgy phase and was starting to act more defiant. For this reason, Matt wondered if he knew about what his sister was doing, and if he was continuing it without his knowledge. He debated looking through his things, but that would be unfair to him and Matt didn’t believe in that parenting style. But at the same time, if he was doing what he thought he was, it could put himself and the rest of his family in danger. Roy was torn apart when Demeter was taken away, and ever since it was hard to talk to him. Even now, when Matt tried to conduct conversation with him, he hardly answered and turned away. Perhaps he was angry with his father, and that’s why he refused to talk. Maybe he wished his parents would have protected his sister or put a stop to it all. But it wasn’t Matt’s fault, there was nothing he could have done. 

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. The four of them looked up and the kids stared at Matt expectantly. It wasn’t time for his husband to come home yet, so Matt hesitantly got up and peeked through the peephole. There stood the sturdy and decorated frame of a man in Red Army garb, his stern face stared back at him. Instead of opening the door to greet him, he stepped back into the living room. The kids must have read his face, because they looked very anxious and stirred in their seats as he warned them, “all of you, to your rooms, now. A soldier is here.” That’s all he had to say- ever since they took their sister away none of them dared speak near or to an enforcer out of fear. 

As they headed out, Matt hesitated to come back to the front door. This feeling was something he felt every time there was a check up- the anxiety that rushed through him that made him feel like he was doing something wrong when he wasn’t. The anger of the injustice that was done to him, the helplessness of not being able to do or say anything. When he finally grabbed hold of the doorknob he took a deep breath and smiled brightly. Opening it, he gave a friendly and inviting wave to the officer, “good evening, Sir! What brings you to my home today?”

The officer didn’t share his friendly approach and got straight to the point, “Officer Higgins, this is your checkup, step aside.” His voice was deep and intimidating, immediately Matt was weary of his presence. 

As he spoke, the officer made his way past Matt’s arms barring the door frame. Matt got out of the way as not to cause a fuss, but already this rude intrusion wore down on his patience. “Good evening then, Officer Higgins. Where’s Officer Browley? Was he out today?” Officer Browley was Matt’s usual officer. He had come to make the checkups for so long that he called Matt and all his family by their first names, and they shared minimal informal connections with each other. Matt didn’t like him necessarily, but he was a forgiving man and didn’t spend too much time snooping through their lives. He frankly didn’t care to, Matt respected that and was thankful for it. 

“Haven’t you been paying any attention to the news? There was an escaped criminal this weekend.”

“Oh no,” Matt cursed Tom and Edd silently in his head, “no, I haven’t been watching the news recently, been too busy with work. So he’s on the case then?”

“No,” Officer Higgins responded while pulling out a notepad and pen, “he was shot dead.”

“Oh…” his voice trailed off, not knowing what to say. In a way he genuinely felt bad for Browley, he seemed to leave his family alone and simply do his orders.  _ But at the same time,  _ he thought,  _ he couldn’t be that kind if he was getting involved in what Edd and Tom was doing. But surely he was just doing his job? _

The police officer wrote something down as he spoke, looking up to scan the house every once in a while, “it’s kind of ironic. The runaway was suspected to be a part of a rebel group. Funny right? I’m sure you would know all about treasonous groups, wouldn’t you Mr. Hargraves?” Matt narrowed his eyes. He opened his mouth to say something but quickly shut it, anything he would say wouldn’t help himself or the conversation. 

The officer continued to take careful notes of his surroundings and it made Matt increasingly nervous that he might have been doing something wrong. But nothing was out of place or suspicious,  _ so what is he commenting on?  _ He couldn’t do much else but watch in silence as they went room to room and eventually they made their way upstairs. He tried to take a peek over the officer’s shoulder at his notepad, but he wasn’t able to get close enough. Like all the officers do, the man jolted backwards at a particular picture hung up at the top of the staircase. It was a picture of Matt and Red Leader, but he wasn’t called that at the time. They were both smiling at the camera, and the dictator was giving a cheeky thumbs up. The officer looked back at Matt in surprise. Matt crossed his arms and smirked at him, finally he felt like he had the upper hand in the situation, “don’t think I’m so much of a traitor now, huh?”

“Where did you get this?” he asked, not admitting to anything. 

“Surprised?” Matt raised an eyebrow at him, “my camera, where do you think?” It was satisfying to use the same know-it-all tone back at the policeman, it was his subtle way of letting him know that he could not intimidate him. 

“You guys are old friends then?”

“Indeed.”

“So how come your daughter was a traitor?” the officer accused, side-eying Matt.

Matt wanted to snap at him for the insult, but he had to keep his calm. If he chose the right words, he could manage to convince Officer Higgins that there was really no reason to be accusing him of treason. He decided it wouldn't hurt to explain the full and honest truth, “we had no idea she was doing any of that stuff. They went through all her things and I found out she was keeping secrets from me. Had I known, I would have punished her for it.”

“As you should. You should have kept a closer eye on her, though. Lazy parenting if you ask me,” he shrugged Matt off and walked calmly down the hallway. Matt’s patience was yet again grinded down at the remark on his parenting.  _ Oh yeah, tough guy? Where’s your dad of the year award? _ Despite being annoyed at how rude this new officer was in comparison, he was satisfied with how well he was able to get him off his back. Higgins peeked into what used to be Demeter’s room and started up a related conversation, “you know, parents should be keeping their eyes on their teens in general these days. Since you said you haven’t been keeping up on the news, I think you’d find it interesting to know that the runaway was in for questioning for similar acts of treason."

"How is that related?" Matt questioned, not really understanding where the officer was going with that statement. 

"Because," he gestured to the inside of her room, "the people of these rebel groups all behave in very similar ways- they leave crumbs behind. It's so that they can recruit people by leaving a trail that you can deconstruct. That runaway, we were so close to finding the end of that trail. Maybe that kid of yours was on the same trail, who knows? But let me tell you something big guy," his face grew dark. The officer leaned in closer to Matt and stared directly into his eyes, "you don't convince me. These people are smart and complex, and from what I've heard about this girl? She was pretty deep in the pit too. I find it extremely hard to believe that you had no idea, and if you really didn't, you must be dumb. Or blind, either one. And I can bet you there's crumbs all around this place that even _you_ can't see."

Matt took a step back from him and put his hands up defensively. He didn't like what Higgins said at all, and it was hard to think that Demeter may have left behind pieces of her case. _There's no way she would, and endanger her family in the process? She wouldn't. She_ is _smart, and that's why I know she would know better._ “I’m flattered that you think my daughter is smart enough to fool me and the entire police system,” Higgins sneered at him, “but I’m going to have to disagree with you here.” Matt tried to sound as kind and gentle as possible while still getting his point across. After all, one wrong move with this new officer could define how he treated them for the unforeseeable future. “They sucked this place dry, they took anything that looked even remotely suspicious. If there were any ‘crumbs’ that you speak of, they’re certainly gone now. But go ahead if you’re so curious, _I have nothing to hide._ ” His confidence piqued Officer Higgins’ interest, but he simply nodded at Matt instead, accepting his bluff. Not that it was much of a bluff in the first place, for all Matt knew there really wasn’t anything worth looking at anymore. But the way Higgins was convinced swayed Matt’s mind. Could it be that Demeter was so deep in her conspiracy theories that she came up with an elaborate scheme to leave behind a trail? Who would it be meant for? Himself? _Roy?_ Maybe, and that way her brother could either pick up where she left off, or follow her to her fate- whatever that was. Perhaps it wouldn’t hurt to look again. Besides, Matt hardly went through her things when she was taken because of the painful memories it would bring. But if she really did put out something meant to be seen, Matt was going to get to it before anyone else did.

-

A couple hours passed, Officer Higgins had gone and Danny came home from work. Matt explained everything to him, even their conversation about Demeter. They proceeded to have a sit-down with the kids about the passing of Officer Browley and how Officer Higgins will be their new weekly check-in officer instead. It was hard words on Tatianna, who didn’t really understand what she was hearing. And through her tears Matt tried to explain to her that everything was okay, but she still needed to be careful. Roy didn’t have much to say, and scoffed at the suggestion that Higgins may be back to search his room like the other officers did. It was a little worrying that he wasn't taking it as seriously, and Matt could see the seething hatred in his eyes.  _ Maybe I should check in a little deeper one of these days. I don't want him getting any ideas in his head. _

Danny was busy putting the kids to bed when Matt slipped out of sight into Demeter's room. The air inside was stale and still, dust kicked up as he moved. He tried not to remember her inside; hearing her voice coming from the other side of the room while she was typing away at her computer. The grief rumbled inside him like a neverending earthquake, forever upturning all the emotions and memories and turned them into sorrows and regrets. He sat down on her bed and began to think,  _ alright missy, if you were to leave a trail behind, where would you make me start? _ It was anyone's guess, but Matt thought it would probably be some place significant to her. He checked under her bed in a small felt cubby that held sentimental items- nothing. There used to be a diary inside which might have been a great place to look, but it was taken away when the enforcers searched the house. He then checked inside her bookbag, but was immediately overwhelmed with all of the papers and books it held.  _ It would be brilliant to leave a note on some random paper inside, but I don't have the time to check right now. Perhaps that is why it's brilliant? I'll have to do that another time.  _

He scanned the room for another lead and settled on her computer.  _ No,  _ he shook his head,  _ there's nothing left on there. We're lucky to even have this thing back,  _ he muttered to himself. Demeter's laptop was her most valuable possession, she would never let anyone touch it. It was, in fact, the goldmine of all the crimes she had committed. But there was surely nothing left now, it too was stolen and looked over by the authorities. It was wiped clean, leaving only a few pictures and school documents behind. Still, it wouldn't hurt to check if maybe embedded in there somehow was a clue. So, Matt sat down and tapped the power button. Since all the data was lost, it booted up a lot quicker than it used to. A bright holographic screen popped into view which made Matt squint in the darkness. The password was forcibly removed, so he was able to get to the home screen without issue. No programs opened themselves in a startup routine, it felt so...empty. It was a strange thing to experience, something so simple and normal like a computer can feel so personal. In a way, her laptop was like an extension of herself, a reflection of her and her interests. For everything to be gone, it was just another painful reminder that she was gone too. 

He didn't really know where to start, so he opened up her internet browser first. To his surprise, there was a customized background and extra toolbars at the top. Matt couldn't help but smile, there was a little piece of her left after all. He checked her history, it was wiped clean. _ I guess I should have expected that,  _ he thought. Then he checked the bookmarks and was surprised to see some still there. He had no idea how many there were originally, but around ten remained. He clicked through them, most of them being innocent pages of clothes and other gadgets she wanted to buy, but something stuck out about a particular website he found. It was a blank page with an error message code, but it was an error Matt had never seen before. There was nothing else on it, so he went ahead and went through the rest of them, keeping the odd error page in the back of his mind for now. Everything else was pretty boring, he tried looking at any accounts she had but he didn't know the login information.  _ The logins are probably in that diary, which I doubt I'll ever see again. _ Matt sighed, he felt defeated. Time passed as he scrolled through image folders and old school files. He tried not to get choked up as he went, but every now and again seeing her face and name almost moved him to tears.  _ My sweet baby girl, what have you done to get into this mess? _

He was on the browser again, checking to see if there was anything he may have missed before he went to bed when he clicked on one of the toolbars. It was a cute little minigame where one could take care of a virtual pet. Matt fed it, feeling bad that it wasn't cared for in so long- then something weird happened. An animation played where the pet opened a speech bubble that read 'passcode' with a textbox. _Passcode?_ Matt tilted his head, _what the hell is this thing?_ Soon the animation timed out and the bubble went away. He furrowed his brow, whatever passcode there was was also completely unknown to him. The word 'code' struck him as odd, as opposed to a ‘pass _word’_ which intended that it would be a word and not a series of numbers like a code would. Curious, Matt went back to the website with the error message and copied the numbers. He fed the toolbar pet again and the same animation played. He pasted the numbers to see if this was indeed the code it was asking for. Suddenly the page was redirected to an old-fashioned HTML formatted website, with bright hard-to-read text and little structure. It was some sort of badly made forum, with plain box buttons that linked to other parts of the site. To the right was a live chat box that was moving as people spoke. It was going surprisingly fast, which meant whoever was there was talking about something worthwhile. Matt widened his eyes at the discovery, and was impressed with his own ability to figure out the puzzle. _And the enforcers couldn't? Matt, you are a genius, and so is she._ Something a user said in the chat caught his attention, "forget that, I think the two are connected for sure."

"No way!" someone responded, "they happened in two completely different cities."

"I think Cona has a point, Jax. Besides, we have no proof who did either of the shootings, it could be two new groups for all we know." This user, who apparently went by Cyan, sided with Cona who clearly wasn't agreeing with whoever Jax was. Matt assumed they were talking about the shooting Tom and Edd were involved in, and wanted to hear more in case they knew something he did not. It was apparent now that this website was, if not one of many, websites Demeter used to communicate with other conspiring teenagers. _ I wonder if she knew these people, if these are her friends. Would they recognize her if I said something? _

Jax wasn't convinced, "THE BULLET HOLES WERE THE SAME, CY. AND in the pictures what do we see? People wearing the same color. It's that same dark blue, it's their uniform, are you guys blind?" As Jax confirmed Matt's assumption, he wanted so badly to back them up. They were right, it was the Blue Order responsible for both the police shooting this weekend, and the dock shooting before that. Perhaps that information would be a great help to them, but it was impossible to let them know. He entertained the idea of speaking to them, but if they _did_ know who Demeter was, then the last they heard from her was before she was taken away. _But what if they don't know what happened to her?_ It was entirely possible and maybe even likely that Demeter simply disappeared for months without telling anybody. It was equally possible that people were well aware of her situation, as Demeter fought the officers that day without fear, as if she was expecting it. At first he thought she was just brave, but maybe she saw it coming for a while. No matter how he looked at it, it just wasn't a good idea, so he kept watching hoping they would start believing Jax. 

"People are allowed to wear the same color shirt, Jax," said Cona.

"This would be a lot easier if Monabi was here. She and Vamp had those docs, remember?" Someone new reminded them. Matt started to get confused with all the names being thrown around and tried to keep record of everyone in the group. A few people agreed with this person's sentiment, and Matt learned that this Monabi person also was taken away like Demeter was. Matt's heart broke for them, there are so many other families that were broken like his. Whoever this kid was was apparently very important to the group, because as they mourned her, they shared words of encouragement and reminded each other of their mutual goal: overthrowing the Red Army. Seeing these kids so determined was actually very inspirational to him, they wanted to take matters into their own hands. They saw something wrong and wanted to change it, no matter how unrealistic and dangerous it was. 

From there on, the chat was muddied with incoming users and the conversation was derailed into multiple unrelated subjects. It was hard to keep track of all the slang and code words they used, it was like they were speaking a different language at points. Clearly there was a long history between these people- one Matt frankly didn't understand. Figuring that he wouldn't learn anything else while they spoke, Matt closed out of the browser and cleared the history to cover his tracks. He decided that he would check it out further some other time and grabbed his phone to make a call. There was someone he needed to talk to, seeing these teenagers take action moved him to as well. Demeter was out there somewhere, and if there were people that could potentially help him find her- he wanted to be involved. 

He waited for the phone to pick up with folded arms. He leaned back into the office chair and stared at the ceiling, questioning his impulsive decision. "Hey Matt! How's it goin'?"

"Hey Edd. Listen, remember that group you were talking about that Tom leads?"

"The Blue Order? Hell yeah I do. Why?"

Matt took in a deep breath, "I want in, show me how."


	6. Testing Loyalties

The sun filtered through the curtains and rested softly on Matt’s eyes. The house was quiet and peaceful, and the gentle rhythm of his love’s breath sounded quietly beside him. It was just the start of the weekend, and normally he would be overjoyed to be out of work and able to spend time with his loved ones. His burning eyes were a telling sign that he had hardly gotten any sleep. He could do nothing but toss and turn all night with the anxiety of the next day, so many emotions churning within him. Guilt, mostly, for leaving his family and lying to his children about where he was going and who he was with. To potentially put himself in danger and widening the target that he was to the authorities, to do the opposite of what he was teaching his kids to do. To follow in the footsteps of his daughter that brought so much pain to his favorite people, it was like a rock in his stomach. But it was what he had to do, and luckily through the support of his husband he had at least one person who he could rely on back home. Today he was going to visit the home base of the Blue Order with Edd. Matt had no idea what to expect, the way Edd described it, it was the greatest thing since the discovery of carbonation. He wasn’t so sure, and it sounded more like a death trap the longer he went on about it. Sure, going on high-energy excursions with his friends sounded exciting, but he was an adult now- with people to take care of. He couldn’t feel so selfless like he used to anymore, he needed to be around, to be safe. Edd described it as going ‘soft’, Matt scoffed at the idea. He wasn’t going soft, he was protecting himself! Surely not everyone could be so careless like he could, right?  _ Yeah, maybe I care too much about my family (if there is such a thing), but maybe you should care a little more. _

There was a slight issue though, Tom and the rest of the order was not expecting him to be there. Edd did not tell Tom that he invited the last of their old trio along. However, Edd told Matt it was no problem, that Tom was happy to bring him along, but Matt was still apprehensive. He felt bad for the intrusion, but Edd very much insisted that it wasn’t a big deal. “It’ll be like we used to!” he said when they talked on the phone.

He got out of bed and got dressed in decent clothes. Edd said that the order usually dresses in business casual when they weren’t in uniform, yet he still wore t-shirts in their presence. Matt wanted to make an impression though, so he made sure to be smartly dressed. Everyone in the house was still sleeping, so he was extra careful to walk lightly on the hardwood floors. It felt kind of lonely. He didn’t feel right sneaking around like this, a criminal in his own home. But as he walked out of the door with his keys in hand, he swallowed his guilt for now- it’s all he could do. 

They met up at the sixth court subway station in London, which was a bit of a drive for the both of them. As soon as he saw the bulky figure of Edd in his signature black coat, they shared a greeting hug. “Do you ever take that thing off? I always see you in it.” Matt gestured to the thick layer of dark wool.

“What? It’s comfortable! It's cold out here dammit,” Edd protested.

“Nevermind that, so where is this building?” Matt looked around, he didn’t like London much these days, too dirty. 

Edd told Matt to follow him as he led them down a series of sidewalks deeper into the sixth court. It looked a lot different than the last time he’s seen it. Some of the buildings he recognized, others were new. The ones that were new were not the same quality, they looked cheaply made and drab. He guessed that’s how cities were sometimes, grey and without the charm of the place it once was. Edd looked like he knew where he was going though and let him lead the way without questioning him. Looking at him a little closer from a couple paces behind, Matt started to worry about the state of his friend. He looked scruffy, unkept. There were heavy bags under his eyes from constant lack of sleep, and his beard was unevenly trimmed in some places. Maybe what he said about his coat being comfortable was true, but he suspected that part of the reason was that it covered up a majority of his body so that people wouldn’t see what he wore underneath. He didn't know what he thought the definition of business casual was, but a plain white t-shirt and jeans were not it.  _ I hope he doesn’t wear this stuff to work _ , he thought, and assumed that he did not care about impressing anyone from the order. Apparently not much from his wardrobe has changed, since he was still buying the same exact shoe type and brand since his early twenties. He guessed that if he asked, Edd would say that it was the perfect shoe and there was no reason to buy one that wasn’t as good just for variation and fashion purposes. Which would be valid if they didn’t look like the _ same exact pair _ of sneakers that he wore in his twenties.  _ If this was how he takes care of himself normally,  _ Matt hated to think about things in this way,  _ how well does he care for Amy?  _ The thought that he wasn’t keeping proper care of himself hurt. Edd was still his friend through and through, his best friend even. If that meant keeping an extra close eye out for his health, then he would put in the effort.

They concluded their short lived walk when they came to a tall building, but it was much shorter than the ones around it. Other than that, it didn’t have many other distinctive features. As they went inside, Edd looked around expectantly but stopped in the middle of the lobby floor. “What’s wrong?” Matt asked when he didn’t move.

“Just uh, thinking for a sec,” he trailed off. He eyed the front desk which currently sat empty. Matt raised a brow at him and Edd waved him off. “I guess no one’s going to show us up, we’ll have to just walk in. Kinda awkward is all.” Edd shrugged as he pressed the button to call the elevator. They stepped in and it carried them to the top of the building, floor twenty.

When the doors opened there was no one there to greet them, in fact, a lot of the lights were off. They could hear chatter and commotion from their left. They turned to it and mutually agreed to follow where the people were. Matt had to admit, he was nervous. He was as extroverted as could be, but he was an outsider and did not have the same background or skills that these people did. What would they think of him? Would they see him as Edd’s plus-one the whole time, an intruder? Or would they welcome him in with open arms? Edd did not seem to share his anxieties, the way he walked it was like he knew all these people by their first names. Maybe he did, that only made Matt feel more distant. 

Edd hesitated for a moment before opening the door and Matt had to wonder why. It didn’t last though, and as Edd creaked the door open, Matt got an idea of just what exactly they had walked into. There were around fifty people packed into a board room, some forced to sit on the floor or stay standing due to lack of space. They were all either mingling quietly to each other or facing forward and waiting for some unseen force. There were too many people to see from where they stood, but through the darkness of the room, a bright screen from the front of the room illuminated the sides of everyone’s faces in a bright blue. At the creak of the door, a couple people’s heads turned to look in their direction. One person did a double take and narrowed their eyes at them, but didn’t say anything. They slinked behind the crowd in the very back of the room, shadows engulfing their figures. Luckily the both of them were very tall and they still managed to get a glimpse of what everyone was waiting for. At the front of the room stood the small stature of Tom in his Blue Order uniform standing in front of a large screen. On the screen was a powerpoint titled ‘Allies of the Order’. He was distracted by conversation with a couple people up front and no one in the front half of the room seemed to notice they had even arrived. It was hard making themselves comfortable, and Matt wasn’t excited to be standing for the next unpredictable length of time. 

A few minutes passed and people naturally hushed themselves as Tom straightened his posture and waited for silence to cloak the room. Edd leaned into Matt’s ear, “looks like we got here just in time. Tom told me there was a meeting today, whatever that meant. I guess this is what they look like- just a bunch of sweaty people in a room listening to a lecture.”

“ _ You mean you’ve never been to a meeting before? _ ” Matt whispered through gritted teeth at him. Edd shrank a little at his tone and shrugged shyly. Matt rolled his eyes in dismissal, there was no point in being annoyed at him now. Perhaps Edd wasn’t such an ingrained part of the order like he had originally thought. 

Tom cleared his throat and spoke with a clear voice that projected through his chest, “thank you all for making it today, I know it’s not everyone but I trust we can fill those who didn’t make it, yeah?” There were a couple of murmurs of agreement from the crowd. “Today I wanted to introduce this month’s mission plans and other extra bits. The slideshow was gracefully created on short notice by our tech team, Medi, thank you for leading such a wonderful team that always comes in just in time.” As he credited him, the man he was referring to waved him off as the people next to him chuckled and patted him on the shoulder.

Edd again tipped his head towards Matt’s ear and whispered excitedly, “I know that guy! He pointed a gun at me once, he’s an American too I found out. Young guy, that’s pretty cool that he leads a whole team. Looks pretty high up-”

“That’s nice, Edd,” he answered with a finger to his lips to signal him to hush. 

Tom went on, “so first mission, it’s been a while since we checked in on our allied groups- the fourth court specifically. I was just recently at Chris’ coffee joint the other day and I couldn’t help but notice that they aren’t as kind to me as they used to be. This could be due to a few reasons…”

“I was there with him! That’s the coffee shop we met up in-” Edd started up again beside Matt.

“Edd, please.”

“Sorry, sorry…”

As Tom outlined his ideas, Matt found it hard to keep up. He was being introduced to a lot of new things at once. Unlike Edd, Matt was actively listening. He tried to keep note of important buzzwords that kept popping up to ask about later, and took in all the detailed slides that were put together. What he got from the speal was that the order was allied with a lot of the local businesses, but recently loyalties have been strained. As a business owner himself, this intrigued Matt. He didn’t consider the fact that he could potentially join forces with the order for mutual benefits.  _ But maybe that isn’t such a good idea. These two things should be kept separate for everyone’s sake.  _ Next to him, Edd looked like he was staring into space. Matt caught it in the corner of his eye and wanted to nudge him back to the present, but figured if he wanted to be impatient and bored, it only punishes himself. The consensus was that the next ‘mission’, as they called it, was going to be a group of people going around the business courts and catching up with their allies and re-screening them. It didn’t sound like such an exciting feat, but according to Tom it could get dicey pretty quickly. 

There was a question and answer section when he was done speaking, Matt was impressed by how much Tom had improved in public speaking. He used to be so closed off, but now he had a circle of people around him. He was happy for him in that way. With his mental notes prepared in his head, he raised his hand to ask a question. Edd snapped out of his trance at the movement and Matt noticed his look of horror too late. People were already turning their heads towards him when they noticed the color draining from Tom’s face up front. The pixels on his visor blinked and then brought up a refreshing symbol for a few seconds. He gulped, “yes... _ Matt? _ ”

Medi and a few other people who looked equally as important were staring him down now, suddenly aware that a stranger was in their presence. Someone was glancing between Tom and Matt, unsure who to watch. Matt didn’t know what to say, and his arm shrunk down to his side, almost all pairs of eyes were on him now. He tried to not let the heat of embarrassment on the back of his neck overtake his voice, “um, I was just going to ask at what point does the financial incentive from the allied point of view become overbearing? Is there a treasurer on board I could talk to about that?” 

“Y-yeah, we do,” Tom nodded to a man in the crowd that he couldn’t see from where he was standing. “It’s Diwi...actually. So, yeah, you can talk to him I guess.” There was an uncomfortable silence that was only broken by Tom, “anyways, any other questions?”

-

“EDD. What the  _ fuck _ was that?” Tom stomped over to the back of the room. It was after the meeting now, people were dispersing into the hallway and chatting amongst themselves. They still haven’t recovered from the awkward surprise, and Edd didn’t even get a chance to react before Tom bounded over. 

“Tom, I can explain-”

“Holy shit, you better be able to. Why is  _ he _ here? No offense Matt,” Tom pointed at him. Matt held up his hands innocently. 

“He was interested in becoming a member so I thought it would be okay if I brought him along for a meeting! I know I probably should have asked beforehand, but it’s not that big of a deal, right?” Edd touched his pointer fingers together shyly, he already knew the answer to that question.

“You  _ told him _ about the order? Why would you do that! Who else have you told?” Tom was getting in his personal space now until Edd had to take a step back. His voice was stern but he wasn’t yelling, there were still people around. 

“No one! I promise it was just Matt.”

“How am I supposed to believe you? I-” Tom looked around and then lowered his voice before continuing, “both of you come with me, we need to go somewhere more private.” He led them to an empty meeting room a few doors down the hallway and as soon as the door was shut Tom’s expression dropped into an angry glare towards Edd. “You better not lie to me right now.”

“Tom, I wouldn’t lie to you,” Edd pleaded.

“You just did! Always you and your ‘promises’, you betrayed me and the order!” Tom was pacing around, dark thought clouds rained above him. 

Edd seemed to have only heard the first part of what Tom had said, “I didn’t mean to betray you, Tom. Honest! I told Matt because I wanted him to join, and he wants to! It could be the three of us again you know? Going on cool missions, kicking ass. Doesn’t that sound fun to you?”

“Did you know about this?” Tom turned his attention to Matt, too frustrated to unpack what Edd just said. 

"No, I'm not sure what's going on if I'm being honest," Matt tried to be as earnest as possible, "he told me on the phone about your group. He thought it would be a good idea if I came along next time and at first I didn't want to but then I accepted his offer. I  _ thought  _ you knew I was coming. I'm really sorry if I caused an issue, Tom."

Edd shriveled under the weight of his mistake and struggled to meet either of their eyes. Tom was furious, Matt felt horrible for him. This group clearly meant a lot to him, and it was dangerous work for sure. If Edd was any more careless with his information, it could have meant life and death for its members. Tom tried twice to say something, both times he pointed at Edd to yell but turned away to blow off steam. While turned, Tom growled, “how am I supposed to believe either of you?”

Cutting off Edd from answering himself, Matt stepped forward, “you every right to not believe us.” Tom turned his head slightly. “But I understand completely how this is a top secret organization. I would never endanger you like that, Edd was just trying to bring us together. He told me everything, and I trust that he didn’t tell anyone else.  _ Please _ believe him.” Matt’s voice was soft and gentle, trying to cool him down. As he spoke, Tom turned to face him fully and allowed his shoulders to rest. Something about the way he soothed him worked, maybe it was his people skills, or maybe it was the soft spot for the person he hadn’t seen for almost a decade. 

There was a silence for a minute, Edd itched to speak, but he didn’t know what to say that wouldn’t potentially make matters worse. Tom put his head in his hands and took a few steps away from them, “I guess there’s nothing that can be done, then.” Edd looked down and shrugged. 

Matt wanted to explain himself further, so he put a hand on Tom’s shoulder and led him away to the other side of the room, out of Edd’s ear shot. They faced each other and Tom looked up at him wearily. “There is a very specific reason why I wanted to come to the meeting today. The Blue Order has resources that I believe can help me.”

Tom cocked his head in interest, “oh?”

“Something...bad happened a few months ago. Enforcers came to my house and stole my daughter, Demeter,” Matt began the story of how he found out that she was a traitor and got caught. Tom furrowed his brow as he processed everything. “So I thought about how Edd told me about the order and I felt that maybe, just maybe, you guys would have a clue about where she might have been taken to. A facility maybe? Some sort of jail? You guys don’t need to do anything for me, I see you all have plenty of things on your plates already, but if you could just give me a lead…”

“You shouldn’t be getting yourself involved in this stuff, it’s way too dangerous,” Tom said flatly, crossing his arms. “That’s awful what happened to you, man. Those fucking bastards hurt my friends more than I thought they did. Shit makes me sick,” he spat. “But, you should stay under the radar as much as possible. Especially if you’re on that watchlist.”

“I know,” Matt groaned, “but I can’t just do nothing. That wouldn’t be fair to her, if I let everything happen without pushing back- even a little bit.”

“That’s very noble of you, but let’s be realistic here, Matt. What happens if you get caught- what then? They’re going to make your family’s life a living nightmare. You have  _ kids,  _ man, you can’t leave them alone like that,” he reasoned.

“But what other option is there?”

Tom looked away in thought for a second, “tell you what- I’ll help you. I will bring justice for your daughter  _ if _ you stay out of it. I can throw a search together easily, and I’ll tell you if I find anything. No guarantees of course, but you have my word so you don’t get yourself killed. Okay?”

“You’d really do that for me?” Matt was astonished at the kind gesture. “I wouldn’t want to make more work for you.”

“It’s fine, really. You’re my friend, and this is some major grief you’re dealing with. If I have the ability to help a friend out, I’ll do it. But like I said,  _ only _ if you don’t take matters into your own hands. You have to trust me that I will do my best, and work on my schedule.”

“I  _ do _ trust that you would get things done, but are you sure you don’t want me involved?” he asked. 

“Yes. Besides, no offense but I don’t want you meddling with the information we already have. We are working with delicate data here.” Tom was serious and looked Matt directly in the eye. 

“Right...I understand. Thank you for everything anyway. I promise I’ll stay out of it, and I don’t mean that in an  _ Edd _ promise way, I mean it in a Matt promise way, which is an actual promise.” Tom wanted to smile at that, but he was still very angry with the lie. Unknown to him though, Matt  _ was _ making an ‘Edd promise.’ Tom admitted that he had the tools and the people necessary to get the answers he was looking for, and now he’s not even allowed to help? If Matt was on the team, he would work even faster, he could take the workload off others so they can work on the main stuff.  _ I don’t see what’s so bad about me joining, I’m clearly more capable than Edd has shown himself to be,  _ he thought. 

They walked back over to where Edd was sitting at a table staring out the window. He perked up when he saw them and gave Matt a curious look. Under Tom’s nose, Matt gave a finger and widened his eyes at Edd to signal that he had things to report back to him. He nodded in understanding and got up. Together the three of them exited the room to join the rest of the crowd. As they went, Tom told Matt that he should leave now, since they were preparing the mission. He insisted it was boring prep-work, and there was no point to stay out of curiosity, but Matt wasn’t convinced. He knew he was only saying that because he didn’t want Matt to get involved further. But he was already here, what’s the point in hiding anything else? He knew just as much about the order as Edd did at this point, and Edd was still allowed to be on the mission despite angering its leader. Granted, he was now downgraded to a position to be near Tom at all times so that he didn’t pull some stunt, but Edd didn’t seem to mind. In fact, Matt guessed he probably preferred it that way.  _ He obviously isn’t taking this very seriously, _ Matt scoffed.  _ To him, this is just a family reunion. But to me it’s not about that. This isn’t about me or my friends, and unlike you, Edd, I have a goal in mind.  _ He didn’t want to undermine his best friend like that, but he couldn’t help but notice that he was acting very childish compared to everyone else.  _ I know he’s just excited, _ he argued,  _ but he needs to get his head in the game.  _

“Before I go, can I talk to you for a second?” Matt pulled Edd aside after he agreed that he would go home so as to not annoy Tom further. 

“Sure! What’s going on? Is it about what you guys were talking about back there?” he leaned in his head close. 

“Yes,” Matt breathed and looked around to make sure no one was watching him, “I told him about my situation with Demeter and he agreed to help me.”

“That’s great!” Edd exclaimed quietly to him.

“It’s not that great actually. He isn’t letting me on the team to help.”

“Why not? Wouldn’t you be the expert on your own daughter?”

“ _ Exactly, _ ” Matt frowned, “I think I deserve to be in the order just as much as you do, so I need your advice on how to convince Tom to let me in.”

“Hm…” he held his chin in thought, “well, I only got in because I earned my place. Maybe if you did the same thing, he’d give you the same grace?”

“Yeah right, I’m not a gun person, I can’t save anyone’s life!” Matt fretted. “What does Tom like, maybe I can bribe him somehow…”

“No no no, that isn’t going to work-”

“I’ll have to buy some really nice alcohol, he didn’t go straight edge right?”

“ _ Matt no,” _ Edd stopped his train of thought. “I highly doubt a bribe would work on him at all. He’s too honorable for that. Look, maybe you won’t be able to do anything grand like saving someone’s life, but if you could just do something that would make him find use for you...say, why don’t you come on the mission anyway?”

“But Tom said no!” Matt whispered harshly in surprise.

“And? What he doesn’t know won’t kill him. Come along anyway in secret, I’ll try to sneak away and update you on the happenings when I can. Something tells me he isn’t going to let me out of his sight though.”

“But I’ll have no idea what to do,” he argued.

“Maybe this time won’t work out, but if you can find a way to be useful you should! If Tom can see that you can provide him with something, he is more likely to let you in. Go ahead of us, we’ll be going to the fourth court first. Lay low and make sure no one recognizes you.”

-

Matt felt ridiculous in his "disguise". He wore a fashionable face mask as some people did in the city and flattened his hair which upset him a great amount. He didn't have time to rush home to change, so instead he left his coat in the car and hoped no one wouldn't recognize what he was wearing underneath. Overall; it was unconvincing, but maybe it could do the job if Tom paid little attention to him. He was sitting on a bench outside of a shop struggling to keep warm as he was reading a newspaper close to his eyes. Suppressing a shiver, he looked around again. He tried his best not to look unnerved but he couldn't help flinching every time a passerby would walk by him. _ I'm sure what Edd said was right... _ he went over his advice again in his head,  _ I'm just being overdramatic for no reason. _ But Matt wasn't entirely sure, maybe Tom was right- he shouldn't get involved with criminal activity at all. It's not fun and games, there were serious consequences waiting for him if he got caught, and the thought of having to face his family with such a mistake made him question if it was all worth it. But it was, of course, because this wasn't about him. It was so much farther beyond him. If he was successful in his goal of getting his daughter back, think of all the good he could bring to the world, all the joy he can bring back to hopeless families who have suffered the same. He could be a  _ national hero- _ if he doesn't get caught that is. And all that started now,  _ it's my little humble beginning, obviously. Sure it's nerve racking now, but I'm certain it can only get easier from here. _

Just then, a familiar voice cut off his train of thought. Casting a glance above his paper, he saw the growing shapes of Edd and Tom coming closer. They were in conversation, and Edd's hands were thrusted deep in his pockets looking a little awkward down at his companion who walked with confidence and speed. As always, Tom wore an unimpressed expression that never gave a clue how he was feeling, and his lack of eyes didn't help how hard he was to read. Matt hoped Edd would keep him distracted as they approached so that Tom wouldn't even need to see him, but when they reached his side of the street, Tom looked around to take in his surroundings. Matt froze and stayed behind his newspaper, not daring to peek out at them. He had one foot propped on the opposite knee to seem casual, but perhaps his stiff stance gave him away. They were close enough so that Matt could hear their conversation, and after a moment of silence Tom said, "this is our first stop."

Edd didn't answer, and as he held open the door for Tom to walk in he explained the shop's owner and her relation to him. Matt didn't catch everything he said but in the context he gathered, Lacey, the store owner, was one of his old bosses. One of his first jobs in the city was this shop. It was a small little thing, more of a corner store than anything. It specialized in organic products which set it apart from other convenience stores in the area. Most corporate food stores were part of government-influenced conglomerates. It's an unfortunate thing because now people cannot entirely trust what they consume, a lot of products were no longer regulated and it was a known issue that farms were genetically altering their food to the point where no one could be entirely sure what was in it. So a little locally-sourced store such as this one was quite the prize. Truthfully, Matt was surprised a store like this was still allowed to exist at all. He knew much more about the business side of things rather than product selling, but what he did know was that the Red Army had a knack for stamping out small businesses. The less competition the better, and if everyone consumed from the same place, they could implement whatever policy they pleased and consumers would blindly follow- they didn't have much of a choice. 

That being said, it was unfortunate to think that Lacey's loyalty was about to be tested. As Tom explained in his meeting earlier, the Blue Order had to routinely check on its allies. Sometimes business owners gave in, and Matt has witnessed it multiple times before. He's watched as business partners have fallen before him over years of lawsuits and law changes until finally- they just give up. Tired of having all their money and resources drained from their pockets. Livelihoods ruined at the hand of what is essentially a corporate entity powered by hunger and greed. Nevertheless, he had to trust that what Tom was doing was right. He knew this woman better than Matt did, and for all he knew he had every right to be suspicious of her.

He peeked into the window behind him in a side glance, turning his head just slightly. Edd was standing a little ways behind Tom, who was walking up in confident strides to the front counter. He exchanged a few sentences with the cashier and she stepped into a room behind the register. Matt now couldn’t pick up anything they said, and thought now was the time to make his next move. He folded the paper and left it on the bench where he found it originally and stepped quietly inside of the store. A dainty bell chimed above him and Matt swore under his breath. Tom’s gaze was just out of view as a shelf separated them, but Edd swung his head around. Matt looked at him and their eyes locked in a knowing stare. He nodded and turned his attention back to the front of him before anyone noticed his prolonged take at the stranger walking in. Matt kept to the back of the store but still within earshot. Unfortunately he could not see what was going on, and prayed that he would be able to pick up enough context from where he was standing. 

A door creaked open and a soft voice answered a previously asked question, “she’s on her way over.”

“Thanks Andrea. So how have you been?” That was Tom, whose voice was tense yet friendly. To an outsider, it could be perceived as sounding rushed or urgent, but Matt knew why he couldn’t stay relaxed. 

“You know, same old thing I guess…” this Andrea girl sounded shy and non-confrontational. Perhaps she was intimidated by their presence?  _ I wonder if that means she’s hiding something. _

“What are you doing, still working here? Aren’t you in college yet? Or are you just working for your mom to put you through?”  _ A family run business,  _ Matt was shocked,  _ now that’s a real find! Good for them. _

The answer was too quiet to pick up, but Matt didn’t think it mattered. Tom must have known this girl from when he worked there. As their small talk continued, he noticed that she grew shier and less interested in sticking around. Suddenly another woman’s voice cut through the unease. “Tom Bridgewell! Yes! There’s my favorite patron.”

“Hello, Lacey.” This time, Tom sounded a lot kinder and welcoming, probably due to the fact that he was finally talking to the person he came for. “Can I talk to you privately?” That last question was just barely within Matt’s realm of hearing.

“Sure thing, is this your friend here?” Matt assumed she was referring to Edd.

“Yes ma’am,” Tom answered before Edd could speak. Matt couldn’t help but feel offended for him.  _ Oh come on, man. I know he’s a bit of a fuck-up sometimes but he’s not a baby.  _ Then there was the sound of footsteps. Matt took this opportunity to cast a glance around a shelf at them. He managed to catch the sight of Edd’s coat disappearing through the door and a large woman with light brown hair tied up in a bun follow him inside. That must have been Lacey. He was alone in the main room now and he promptly headed up to the door they just left in. He had to really strain his ears to pick up anything, and even then while pressing the side of his head into the wood he only caught half of the sentences. 

“The order poses no threat to you....promise....something that….as you do,” was part of how Tom began. 

Luckily Lacey carried a louder voice, “I understand that, but….money is a problem, you  _ know  _ that, Tom. Something you have always….and I’m a little offended that you would think otherwise.”  _ Yes! I knew we could trust her, small businesses fight together! _

“Then how do you explain…” said Tom.

“That? Tom. You have the complete wrong idea, I never…”  _ Tell ‘em, Lacey!  _

“That….add up….tell them…. _ you’re lying _ .” 

“How dare you!” Things were starting to heat up, and the sound of growing footsteps on the other side of the door snapped Matt out of his trance. Thinking quickly, he lept backwards and tried to run back in front of the counter. The knob turned and momentarily the argument was unmuffled. He fiddled with a bag to look busy and looked up to see Andrea sighing with her back against the wall. She looked around and jumped when she noticed Matt standing there, she never saw him walk in. 

“Hi! Welcome, call me over if you need anything,” she put on a forced smile and said in a strong customer service tone. 

“I will, thanks!” Matt replied, thankful that she wasn’t suspicious of him. 

_ Maybe I could probe her for some context,  _ he thought and casually went up to her while looking at items. “What’s going on in there? Everything okay?”

“Oh, you can hear that?” she panicked. “No no! Everything’s fine! It’s just a family friend, we’re Italian so you know loud voices! And stuff…” her excuse was poorly executed and she was so unconfident that it was like  _ she  _ didn’t even know what she was saying.

“You look a little stressed, are you okay hun?” part of this question wasn’t even a lie, her hair was a mess and her hands were trembling. Matt’s fatherly instinct told him this was more than a bad day at work. 

“Yep, I’m fine, just swell. Sorry I look like a nightmare, I’m a college student so...a job on top of eight classes- not very fun.” Matt just started to notice that she kept glancing at the door. 

“Eight classes, wow! I’m so impressed, what’s your major?” Matt tried to keep her talking, something was starting to crack. 

“Uh,” she gulped and Matt picked up on the fact that both parties in this conversation understood there were ulterior motives behind their words. “Business.”

“ _ Business, _ I took business as a minor too. What school do you go to?”

“Sir, are you going to buy anything? Otherwise this could be considered loitering and I would have to ask you to leave.” Tom was right, there’s something very wrong here. 

“I’m not going anywhere,” he said in his most serious voice. She shook her head violently.

“Just take your friends and go away! We didn’t do anything to you!”

“What are you hiding?”

“Just go!”

The bell chimed and they both looked over. Two enforcers stepped through, the second one to enter was in the middle of eating a donut. Neither looked necessarily scary or like they were here to cause a hassle. Silence fell on the store, only the quiet conversation- which seemed calmer now- was heard behind the door. Matt went back to checking out the items as Andrea watched in horror. She greeted the enforcers with a shaky voice. They answered with a friendly wave and a hello through the sugary treat. The first enforcer walked directly up to Andrea, “Hello there, I’m Officer Newman. May I speak to the highest manager you have on staff at the moment?”

“She’s in the room behind me, Sir. I’ll be right with you.” Andrea knocked on the door and called to her mother inside, “hey Mom? There’s enforcers outside that want to talk to you.” Immediately the conversation stopped and there was a moment where no one answered. Matt took this as a sign to get out of sight again. He made his way to the back of the store and did himself a once-over to make sure none of his ‘disguise’ was out of place. 

The door opened for the final time and three sets of footsteps walked out. He recognized the heaviest steps as being Edd’s, and the steps with the shortest distance between them was Tom. Lacey was the first to speak, “hello there officers, is there an issue I can help you with today?”

“Are you in contact with the owner of this establishment?” asked Officer Newman.

“That would be me, Sirs, I am Lacey Costello. It’s a pleasure to be of service.” She sounded sweet and worry-free, as if the argument never happened.

“I’m sorry to come in without prior warning ma’am, but we are going to have to perform a mandatory quick once-over of the building.”   
  


“And why might that be, may I ask?” she sounded defensive, and rightfully so.

It was the second officer that answered her, “orders say we have to check out all the buildings in proximity of the shooting some time back.”

“There were a few suspicious individuals that were hiding out in a grocery store such as this one during the event. It’s for everyone’s safety that we ensure these suspects are taken into custody, as they could have been responsible for multiple deaths that day,” Newman added.

“That’s horrible!” Lacey gasped. “But I can assure you you won’t be finding anything here, feel free to explore the floor however. I have nothing to hide here.”

“Jack, take the main area. Ma’am do you care to lead me through this door here?” The second officer abided by Newman’s orders and stepped into view. 

Lacey didn’t like that, “I’m sorry, why this room?”

“As I said Miss Costello, we have to sweep the building.”

“But this is my private office.”

“I understand that, I won’t go poking through any papers I promise, just want to step inside real quick.”

“She said no,” Tom jutted in.

“Excuse me? And you are?” Officer Newman growled.  _ What are you doing, jackass? Are you insane? _

Lacey tried to talk but the men around her drowned out her voice, Edd spoke the loudest, “you can’t go in there, it’s private.”

“I thought you said you have nothing to hide?” Newman started to get impatient. Beside Matt, the other officer was looking over at them- acutely aware of the situation but choosing not to get involved. Despite them not interacting once, there was an awkward air between Matt and the officer, two bystanders of a fight they didn’t start but had to finish. 

“It’s not about having something to hide, she said no, you have no right to go through her private property,” argued Tom.

“This is not private property-”

“It’s not public property either!”

Lacey shouted over them, “now just wait a damn minute! I am the owner of this place, and  _ I  _ get to delegate who goes where and what have you.” They all calmed down and let her speak, “now, with all due respect to you, Officer, I understand that it is your job to follow orders. My request is not out of defiance to the law,” Matt imagined her glaring at Tom out of the corner of her eye, “but rather out of my insecurity. That room is very messy and disorganized you see,” she lied.  _ Wow, now I see where your daughter gets her terrible lying skills from. _

“That’s all well and good Miss Costello,” Newman found his cool somehow and reacted calmly to her again. “However no matter how messy you think it is, I can assure you with full confidence that whatever we would see is not of any concern.  _ My  _ concern is your safety, surely you understand that? If you want to abide by the law, I recommend that you please get out of my way and let me do what I need to do before this goes any further.”

“I…” Lacey stammered. This was it, this was when Matt could step in. Forcing his fear down his throat, Matt stepped out of his spot to the surprise of the officer he left behind.

Walking directly up to Officer Newman with refined poise, Matt stated what he knew, “I’m very sorry to interrupt Sir, but I’m afraid you don’t have the rights to enter that room.”

“Now what-” he raised an eyebrow.

Matt wouldn’t allow him to go on, “according to the ‘Entering Clause’ in subsection three under category six of The Red Nations Business Rights Act:  _ you,  _ Sir, do not have the authority to search any space belonging to a proprietorship without a warrant signed and stamped by your higher command. I know my rights and so does she. She was not asking, she was  _ telling _ you to leave.” He could feel Tom’s bewildered stare boring into the back of his head, but he didn’t move under the pressure.

Officer Newman kept looking back and forth between his eyes while he processed what he heard. “What makes you think you can talk to an officer like that?”

“You are doing something illegal, and if reported I can get you fired,” Matt held his ground.

“Who do you think you are?”

“The person that could make you lose your job, now who is your chief? Get me his number.”

Newman sneered at Matt with hatred. “This is ridiculous,” letting out a huff, he turned around and signalled his partner to follow him out. Before he left, he said something final to Lacey, “this isn’t over.”

For a moment no one moved or said anything. Matt didn’t have the courage to look behind him, terrified of what he might see. To him, he did an amazing thing.  _ I can’t believe he just left! I’m amazing! _ But if only everyone were so enthusiastic. It was Edd who broke the silence, “ho...ly.... _ shit.  _ That was awesome!” Matt turned, Edd’s eyes were bright with excitement for his friend. Tom’s face hung in a frown, he was sure he was angry, but with the visor not giving any eye movement it was hard to read him fully. Lacey looked like she was about to commit homicide within seconds, and Andrea looked inches from passing out in the corner.

“ _ Awesome?  _ You call that awesome?” Tom faced Edd and crossed his arms. 

“Yeah, it was. It saved my ass from getting beaten because of YOU!” Lacey slapped Tom with the back of her hand. 

“Ow!” Tom jumped back in surprise, “the fuck did I do? I was just trying to help.”

“You almost got me killed, what’s wrong with you! I could have handled it. If it wasn’t for this kind and informed man I could have died today or at the least, lost my business.” She reached out an arm to Matt and let her face relax as she shifted who she was talking to, “thank you so much for being here. If it weren’t for you, I don’t know what could have happened.”

Matt flushed and rubbed the back of his neck at the praise, “oh, it was nothing. I’ve had to deal with the same type of thing in court before. I know how to handle those guys pretty easily. All you need to do is confuse them with their own rules, they rarely know them.”

“Do I even need to ask what you’re doing here Matt, or can I just blame Edd and call it a day.” Tom sounded fed up with the two of them.

“You two know each other?” Lacey asked.

“Unfortunately,” Tom sighed. “Look, I’m sorry about everything. We’ll talk about the money later, give my treasurer a call and I’m sure we’ll work something out. I hate to leave like this, but I have something I need to take care of.” As they said their goodbyes, Lacey continuously thanked Matt over and over for what he did. He insisted that he was now an honoured guest, and Matt couldn’t do anything but accept the gesture. Maybe he didn’t defend Tom in a gunfight, but in his own way, he saved someone’s life too.

-

The three of them took a pitstop to sit at a table of an open outside cafe. Technically, they were still on the mission, since the owner of the cafe was another person on Tom’s list. But after they left the store, Tom insisted that he “didn’t want to hear shit” until they could sit and talk. It was odd, the three of them talking together in a group again. Walking there together, just three friends.  _ Like it used to be...yet the situation is so much different.  _ Matt didn’t want to think about it, but it was really hard to be in this position. He wanted so badly to talk to Tom normally again, as friends. But right now as it stands he has every reason to hate him. The first day seeing him in a decade, and he’s in trouble.  _ I didn’t want it to be like this,  _ he thought while looking at him. Unlike how Edd felt, Matt thought Tom looked nothing like he used to. Maybe it was the visor, maybe it was the way he carried himself, nevertheless he looked so much...older. He was older, sure, but the years seemed to hammer hard into him.  _ Dare I say he is developing wrinkles- how sad. I’ll have to tell him about my anti-aging cream, but he probably won’t care.  _ Additionally, he spotted a few light hairs beginning to gray at the root here and there. His stubble was darker and more noticeable, and his voice was somewhat strained. It’s safe to say that his aging journey was a lot tougher on him than it was for himself. Matt hoped that Tom wouldn’t comment on how much better he looked than him. 

They established straight away that it was Edd who had encouraged Matt to follow them. He was ashamed to admit it, but to everyone’s surprise Tom didn’t berate him for it. Instead, he kept a calm face while Edd spoke, nodding his head occasionally and kept steady eye contact. Maybe it was because he wanted to listen to what they had to say before getting angry, or maybe he was just in public and therefore wouldn’t have the opportunity to scream at them. Matt didn’t know, but one thing was for certain, despite that day being eventful enough, he had a feeling things had only just begun. The thrill of telling off that enforcer was still coursing through his veins, his legs felt lighter than air. He couldn’t wait to get home and tell Danny what had happened. He was sure that he would be happy and proud that this was his first step in finding their daughter. He had to keep that goal in the forefront of his mind always, this wasn’t a game nor was it fun. 

"So…?" Edd encouraged Tom to answer after coming clean.

For a moment he didn't respond, but after a heavy sigh he looked up at Edd with an unreadable emotion in his gaze. "I guess it's my fault for not seeing this coming." At this, Edd's smile faded a little, disappointed that he clearly didn't share his excitement. Tom turned his attention to Matt, "I suppose that means you think you’ve proven yourself worthy of membership?"

"Obviously it relies on you, Tom," Matt said cautiously. He felt bad, Tom sounded exhausted by them. "The last thing I want is to burden you."

"Well, you've already done that," he replied sharply. "But," Tom tipped his head to the side, "I have to give credit where it is due. I may not like it, but you _did_ save our asses. Ugh, this is all such a mess…" his voice saddened. At this new tone shift, Matt and Edd looked at each other not knowing what to say. Matt wanted to apologize, but he didn't know how to phrase it so that he would understand. After a round of silence, Tom spoke again. "It's tough, because the truth is...I've _always_ wanted you two in the order."

"You did?" Edd perked up.

"Sure," Tom stared deep into Edd's eyes, "it was always the plan to invite you. But when you told me Stacy was pregnant, it forced me to reconsider." Tom broke his focus and started watching the passer-bys, "then before I knew it things escalated…and it was too late. I should have known that it would come back to bite me. Having you both here shouldn't be so bad, it just makes me worry." He rubbed his hands over his cheeks as if he was scrubbing off past guilt. 

"I'm here of my own volition, Tom. My safety isn't your responsibility," Edd tried to reassure him. 

"It  _ is _ though-"

"I'm here because I want to be. It's not some karmic punishment. I'm happy to help, and balancing my work and home life is my job- not yours." Edd placed a hand on Tom's arm. 

Matt wanted to add to his sentiment, "and I'll do anything to get my daughter back. It's just an added bonus that I get to do it with my best friends." Edd looked up and gave him a smile, Matt smiled back.

Tom switched his digital eyes between them and tried to force his smile down, but it failed. "You guys are going to give me grey hairs." Edd laughed, and together they shared their first moment of togetherness in a very long time. “Alright alright, let me give the group a call and see where everyone is at, we’ll get back to base soon and we can do some finalizing stuff.” He got up and left them alone while taking out his phone. Matt watched as he left, relieved that everything turned out okay in the end. 

“I told you he’d cave! But you didn’t believe me,” Edd smirked.

“Yeah yeah, okay you win. I’m just glad he’s not mad.”

“Are you excited?”

“Excited isn’t really the word,” Matt searched for a better one to use, “I guess just relieved. Grateful too.”

Edd’s soft expression could barely hide his happiness, “you have no idea how great it feels to be together again.”

Tom held his phone close to his ear as he waited for someone to pick up. He had paged the mission group to see the status of where everyone was. Painfully aware that he had fallen far behind, he hoped someone would be able to pick up his slack. Finally the ringing clicked off and the voice of a woman on the team answered. He gathered updates from her that things were going well. He explained that things weren’t exactly the same on his end, and that the base should expect another new member by the day’s end. She sounded shocked, but trusted his judgement. The order always was happy to have new members, but sometimes it was more stressful than exciting. New members means a larger spread of resources, more room for human error, and a bigger chance of something leaking out. But it also meant a large base to stand on, more power in numbers, and a bigger pool of thought and intelligence. Everything was a risk, but despite Edd and Matt starting out their membership in lies, Tom still trusted them.  _ They did all that just to risk getting shot in the face, I don’t understand them sometimes.  _ He had to force his guilt of responsibility down, it had no place in his mind right now.

As he looked onto the street mindlessly listening to the few others who had joined the call since, something caught his eye. Throughout the years, Tom has trained himself to be more observant. It has saved his life on multiple occasions, it is always in one’s best interest to use their environment to their advantage. Thus, when people-watching, he tried to take mental notes of everyone he passed. It is amazing how much you can tell about a person by the way they present themselves. So when he saw someone on the other side of the street with a scar on his face, he couldn’t help but take note. His vision zoomed in during the small timeframe he had as he passed. He was walking with someone else in conversation. Their outfits were pressed and neat, not unusual for someone perusing the fourth court, but the way his dress shirt was tucked in so perfectly stuck out.  _ Military.  _ Years of formal training made men trim themselves in a certain way. It was even in the way the two of them walked, straight and in unison, like they were marching without realizing it. But what were two military men doing out of uniform?  _ Easy, they’re undercover,  _ he deduced. That could be concluded by the way they acted too, their heads stayed closer together as they talked. He was sure they intended to have their conversation look casual to the naked eye, but it wouldn’t slip past Tom so easily. The scar that brought them to his attention in the first place spanned multiple inches along his face. It split his right eyebrow in half and jutted down his cheek. It was thick and white,  _ a deep cut, that definitely must be a glass eye then. What an injury, how the hell did you manage that big guy?  _ His window of observation was closing fast, and he lost sight of his front as they escaped view further down the street. But that wasn’t the last of his observations,  _ the other guy has back problems.  _ In his stride, his shoulders leaned ever so slightly forward, revealing a lasting issue somewhere along his spine. The pieces were slowly coming together in Tom’s head, he knew exactly who these people were. He heard stories about them, but everything he knew had come from word of mouth. Not much was known publicly about them, very little writing has been recorded. Such prominent figures in the Red Army, yet they remained unknown to the people.

“Tom? Tom! Is everything okay?” the woman’s voice from the call jolted Tom back to reality. The back of his neck grew hot with the realization that he wasn’t listening. 

“Yes, yes, I’m sorry. I was just distracted for a moment. I’ve got to go, I’m glad everything’s going well. I’ll see everyone back at the base.”

-

Matt still felt uncomfortable in the base’s elevator, but something told him he could get used to it. On the way back, everyone took their cars separately. It was hard to park in that tiny lot next to the building, and he hoped that he wouldn’t need to start fighting people for spaces the more time he spent here. The three of them seemed cool now, but when Tom came back from his phone call earlier he seemed distracted- like his mind was on something else completely. Now Edd was talking his ear off about the membership registration process. He hadn’t finished it himself due to time restraints, but that didn’t spare him from sharing every detail. “I just don’t see the need for my fingerprint, doesn’t that seem a little much?”

“It’s so we can confirm your identity if we find your dead body in a ditch, among other things,” Tom replied flatly. 

“Oh...well I guess that’s a good point.” 

The elevator doors opened and the air was a lot calmer than the first time he was here. He was grateful at least that things weren’t always as chaotic and crowded like the meeting. They also weren’t on the top floor like last time, but rather on the fourth floor. Tom explained that the way the building was set up, the higher you go the more important the work accomplished there was. Edd had made a joke that that was how the Red Army tower worked as well, but Tom didn’t find that very funny. They stepped out and Tom immediately went to talk to someone in a side room. He beckoned them over after exchanging a few words with the person inside. Edd and Tom watched as the lady sitting at the desk inside walked him through some paperwork. Matt couldn’t help but feel nervous making things official. It was just solidifying everything he was doing. It was scary, like sealing his fate or signing a death certificate. But it was what he needed to do, and the presence of two of his most trusted friends kept his skin from jumping off his body. Still, an intrusive thought barged into the front of his mind,  _ but it’s been so long. Do you  _ really  _ even know these people anymore? _ When that was done, someone brought him and Edd a matching uniform. He marveled at it, pressed and proper, it was a symbol of his newly formed brotherhood.

“Extra large? Aw man…” Edd whined beside him when he opened the shirt and held it up to himself.

“It’s your height, I’m a large too, don’t be sad,” Matt rested a reassuring hand on his shoulder and laughed. Tom cleared his throat and they both looked up.

“That’s everything then?” Tom asked the group generally.

“I guess so,” Matt answered.

“Well, then. In that case,” he took a couple steps back and stretched his arms out wide with a triumphant smile, “ _ welcome to the Blue Order!” _

Edd threw his hands in the air in celebration. Matt cheered with him. With a booming voice riddled with emotion, Edd sang out, “aw yeah- Edd, Matt, and Tom baby let’s fuckin’ go! The boys are back in town!”


	7. Connecting Dots

The sun was set and dark clouds hung low in the sky. The air was damp and it smelled like rain, yet there was none. The October chill was not enough to freeze, but was far from bearable. Edd and Matt went home one after another a couple of hours ago, and the group from the mission slowly trickled in. Some went home, some stayed, nights at the base were quiet and peaceful. Soft drumming of tapping keys and occasional sips of coffee were heard in the stillness. Tom was in his own office, writing down a detailed report of the work he did that day. It was getting late for a work day, and the night shift of one of his part time jobs was starting in an hour. But he still had so much to do. If he could, he would spend all his time here, at this computer, writing reports. The work of a hero never stops, and when he rests so does the effort for freedom.

After he was done with this task, he had another very important thing to do. He saw the two highest ranking generals of the Red Army earlier today. Undercover too, sneaking around the city among its people, blissfully unaware of the snakes in the grass. He needed to speak to his research team about it as soon as possible. What were two influential people like that doing on the streets of the fourth court? Very rarely were higher ups seen in public,  _ especially _ those two. General Dadulewicz and General ver Toorde were monsters to those who heard stories about them. In the few that he’s heard, one of them was the story of General ver Toorde crushing a Danish battalion single handedly with one tank. He set fire to their camp and left not a single soldier alive- going so far as to capture and behead those who got away in the fight. He was mean, a hunter, trained to kill and not leave a soul behind. The Red Army had a way of making an example of their enemies, shown by a story of General Dadulewicz ordering for the public hanging of a French legislator. He cut him open and let his body drain all its blood onto the ground for everyone to see. Together they made a tag team of destruction and terror, striking fear in anyone who had the misfortune of being at the end of their guns. 

Time was of the essence, and there was a deep rooted fear inside Tom that this sighting was the mark of horrible things to come. So, as soon as he hit the upload button on his report, he got up and stretched his legs. Making his way out of his office, he took the central elevator down to the fifteenth floor, home of the research team. Unlike a lot of the order, the research team was always around. They switched shifts throughout the day and stayed informed twenty-four hours around the clock. With eyes constantly on the news, live-streams, and refreshing social media feeds, they were the backbone of the order. “I have important news,” Tom addressed the five or so people in the collection of cubicles. He heard someone take off their headphones and a head popped up from the half wall.

“Yeah? What is it?” by now, everyone had peeked out to take a listen.

“I saw General Dadulewicz and General ver Toorde on the mission today, they were undercover and walking around in the fourth court.”

A few pairs of eyes widened and someone gasped. “Are you sure it was them?” one of them asked. 

“I’m certain. I saw ver Toorde’s scar to prove it. Here, get me a chip reader,” he went up to one of the computers and someone supplied him with the reader. There was a port on the inner side of his visor that was protected by a rubber plug- sort of like an old school bluetooth device. Inside his visor there was a chip that stored minor data like recordings of his sight and data logs of how the device was working. The members of the order were the only people who knew this, he didn’t want it to be known information that his sight is chipped and therefore-  _ trackable _ . At the moment, Tom was the only one with his own data stored. His visor was custom built by a trusted associate so he didn't need to worry about the Red Army invading his privacy. 

With the reader in his hand, Tom took out the chip. For a temporary moment of time, his vision was reduced to black. When it came back on, an error message appeared before him. He ignored it and put the chip inside the reader and handed it back to the researcher. It was then inserted into their computer and an additional digital screen appeared before them. Displayed was a menu of many folders organized by the days. Tom used the touchscreen to select the footage from today. As he scrubbed through it to find the clip of the generals, he caught eye of the moment early in the day when Edd told him about Matt. He was furious then, too furious to see the pleading in Edd's face. He looked down at him with such sorrow, like the thing he’s been waiting for was stolen from him. A pinch of guilt hurt Tom's heart, and he remembered his words, “I didn’t mean to betray you, Tom.” He stared blankly at it,  _ I know you didn’t. _

Finally it got to the moment where he got up to make the call and slowed it down. “Look here and tell me I’m wrong,” he said to the group. When it played, murmurs of speculation rose from them. 

“I think you might be right,” said one of them.

“Here, I’ve got a picture. Let’s make a comparison.” Within minutes, side by side the screens compared the faces. To the left were the official Red Army military ID portraits retrieved from the public record, and to the right was the fuzzy but detailed footage of the two generals. In the ID photos, their stares into the camera were cold and empty- void of compassion or empathy. He had to suppress a shudder. There was surely no mistake about it, Tom was right.  _ It blows my mind that they wouldn't make more of an effort to hide their identities. _

As if she heard his thoughts, one of the researchers muttered half to herself, "so much for being undercover." She said louder this time, addressing Tom, "are you sure they were on a mission? It just looks like they are walking to me."

"High ranking officers never walk alongside citizens like that. They were there for a reason," he reasoned. 

"Okay, but are you sure it's  _ work related? _ Who knows, they could have just gone for brunch."

"Either way, it's something to report," finished another member. "Tom, do you mind if I make a copy of this real quick?" Tom gave his permission and they continued questioning the generals' motives while the copy was made. When he got his chip back, he hastily put it back in and the error message disappeared from view- finally back to normal. 

The group shared a few details that were new to Tom. For months now, the research team has been exclusively focusing on the study of high ranking officers and their whereabouts. To see the two highest generals in plain sight, that was groundbreaking. So little was known about these officers that any slice of information was enough. Besides from what was in the public record, everything about the generals were passed by rumors. And even the public record wasn't really that public. What it really was was the limit of how far you can search before getting flagged and blocked from certain sites. Even records of the war were top secret. If someone knew a soldier, they just had to trust that the information they were given was correct. For all they knew, their soldier could have been dead for months, lying frozen in the snow of the mountains never to come home. The army hoarded all this information, and it was obvious why. If the average citizen knew what was really going on, the army would have been taken out of power years ago. But they rule through ignorance and intimidation, and no one really questioned these things. Maybe it was out of fear of being taken away, or maybe it was because they would rather just stay in the bliss of not knowing. Either way, Tom was not one of those people, none of the order was. 

What they gathered thus far was that the two generals had an office on the third floor from the top of the central Red Army building. They weren't there that often it seemed, because all of the sightings and rumors have pointed to that they were always out doing things. Last year around this time, they were in Czechia, presumably checking on the war efforts. That January, they took a two week trip to America for probably the same thing. When in England, they were all over the place, not just London. Whatever dirty work Red Leader needed done, he sure had beef across the globe. This made the generals as targets very difficult. You never knew where they were or what they were up to. If they were gone, when would they come back? Would they even come back? 

The other most important detail about the generals is understanding just how  _ important _ they really were. Not just to the army, but to Red Leader himself. In an exclusive picture the research team found, one of the only pictures of the inside of the army building they had, there was a giant classically painted portrait on the wall. The picture was blurry and it was unknown where in the building it was hung, but it portrayed Red Leader and the two generals in all their glory. In his most decorated uniform, the dictator sat nobily in a throne-like seat. On his left was General ver Toorde, positioned with his hands behind his back, strong and sturdy. To his right was General Dadulewicz, his left hand held onto Red Leader's shoulder as if he was showing his support and loyalty to the viewer. This was a clear representation that these two men were extremely close to the dictator, quite literally at his side always.  _ To take them out...wouldn't that show him. What a glorious feat that would be, to take down the army from the inside out. _ "So, what are we going to do?" Tom addressed the team generally. 

"It's fair game, from what we know, the generals have been in London for three weeks now. This is a pretty long stretch of time, it could be any day now that they're whisked away again. If we strike soon, we may be able to catch them before it's too late," one of them explained.

"Understood," Tom nodded his head. "So you're suggesting we set something up?" 

"It's up to you, if you can manage to fit something in this month it might be worth it. But, are you willing to pull the trigger on something like this? There's no coming back from it."

"I know," Tom murmured. "I'll look into it."

-

Tom was on the way to work. He tried to play music in the car but he couldn't pay any attention to it- there was too much going on in his head. He decided to talk about it with someone he trusted. "Hey, Medi. I didn't disturb your evening did I?"

"Not at all, Tom. I'm just making dinner now, what's the problem? Did something happen?" He sounded distracted, and Tom could hear a knife chopping against a cutting board on the other side of the line. 

"Yes and no. Nothing to get upset over, I just had a discussion with the research team." Tom then went on to explain their findings. 

Medi listened closely and argued a few points. "They've left us alone thus far, you don't think they're coming after us do you?" he asked.

"No, and that's why they'll have no idea what’s coming. I don't think it's too far-fetched."

"Well, I can't say I have much to add to this subject. Have you talked to Hellucard about it? He might be a little more useful here-"

"Nevermind that, I'm talking about morally. Do you think it's a good idea?" Tom opened the floor for Medi to speak. 

He hesitated, "I definitely think it's... _an_ idea."

Tom sighed, "you think it's crazy. I'm being crazy."

"I think it's  _ rushed, _ " Medi responded quickly, "it's too risky. we're ill-equipped, we live in one of the biggest cities in Europe- I wouldn't be surprised if they were watching our every move as we speak."

As Medi spoke, Tom let his eyes gloss over the road, almost losing himself in his own mind. When no one talked for a while, he said quietly, "I just need something to push me. I just need some sort of sign…"

-

The crunch of the cigarette being grinded against the bottom of the ashtray broke the silence between them. Paul swung his chair over to face Patryck's desk on the other side of the office. They had just arrived back from being out on the town for the first time in a while. It was good to be out, Paul thought, and see how things were doing. Since the last time they talked about the posters, there had been another shooting in London. Five police officers were killed alongside three citizens that were caught by stray bullets. All this started by an escaped criminal. Paul had brought it up once to his partner, but he shut it down for now. They were too busy to discuss the news at the time, but now they were between jobs at the office. 

Patryck was sorting a pile of documents that built up on his desk while he was away, without looking up at him, he said flatly, "what do you want?"

"So you're telling me we're supposed to ignore the shooting?"

"Ah, there it is," he snarked. "You think it's our job to worry about something like that? Yeah, we're ignoring it."

"But this is the second shooting this month, does that not concern you at all? What if people start freaking out."

"It's London, Paul, people get shot all the time. They're used to it-"

"I saw someone claim it's domestic terrorism online."

"Well that's idiotic. They clearly don't know what that word means then," Patryck was calm but his tone was harsh.

"That's not the point, the situation isn't being handled, and that's causing an issue. The guy escaped questioning, rescued by a group of people. You're telling me nothing's going on? Please." Paul rolled his eyes.

"Give me a break, Paul. Even so, it's not our problem to deal with, we have a lot better things to do," he held up a manilla folder with a red CLASSIFIED stamp on the front. 

"And the people whose career it is to deal with it isn't doing their fucking jobs," he continued. 

Patryck sighed and slapped the folder back down onto the table. "What do you want me to say then, hm? What are you gonna do, walk into the station and fire off warning shots and force them to start searching? You're not thinking. I guarantee you they're doing their best already. Just relax, will you?" Paul only huffed in response. Patryck stood up and walked over to him. His tone softened, "have you been getting enough sleep? You've been tossing and turning for days. Come on, let's get out of this grey office, it's a nice day outside."

Paul looked up at him with sore eyes and nodded. Together they exited and talked about other things. However, before they even got to go outside, they spotted a familiar figure a few floors from the ground entrance. He was tall like them but bulkier. His body was built to fight and they could see it even through his uniform. His face was sharp and intimidating, with low-set brows that defaulted into an angry expression. Over his uniform, he wore a thick military green coat with white fur at the collar. His dark hair pushed back and hands at his side, he was polished and in his prime. He stood with a few high ranking officers near the hallway leading to his office. This was Yanov Kutajar, Police Commissioner, commander of all the enforcers across the Red Nations. Without warning, Paul broke away from Patryck and walked up to him. Patryck called after him, "you better not be asking about the shooting."

"Commissioner Kutajar, may I have a word with you?" Paul asked him. Yanov instantly nodded and ended his conversation with those around him. Patryck begrudgingly met them in the spot away from anyone else who might be within earshot. 

"Yes, General?" Yanov stood at attention. 

"I wanted to ask why on God's green Earth have I not seen a resolution to the shooting last weekend? My eyes must be old and cloudy because I don't remember seeing a news report that the criminal was back in police hands," Paul crossed his arms. Patryck eyed him without turning, trying to show him his disapproval for being such a brute up front.

Yanov was a man of few words, so his answer was short and concise, "there has been no resolution, Sir. The case is still in progress."

"And why is that?"

"The suspect disappeared. Her whereabouts remain unknown. The London force is sweeping all local areas."

Patryck expressed some interest, "so she just- poof- disappeared into thin air? What about street cameras, DNA samples, house searches, you're telling me this person stopped existing as soon as she left the station?"

"All those options have been exhausted, Sir."

Paul and Patryck looked at each other. Patryck continued, "what about the people that came to retrieve the suspect? Any information regarding them?"

"The answer is not simple, General. The identities of the group are unknown, but details suggest we have seen them before."

"What details?" Paul asked immediately.

"I am unaware of the full diagnosis of the situation. I was about to have a meeting with Specialist Tann about it." Yanov gestured to one of the men behind him. They recognized him right away by his bright blond hair. Yuu Tann, Weapons Specialist for the Red Army, was the polar opposite of Yanov in physical appearance. He was a lot shorter and smaller in shape. Trained in the army like everyone was, he was not weak by any means, but you were unable to see any bulk on his frame. He wore a rather kind face, friendly and positive, he was much easier to talk to. Paul and Patryck had history with this figure, Yuu was an early member of the Army and a very important member of the small tag team it was at the time. A lot has happened between them since. When he noticed the generals were looking at him, he straightened up at once. Paul beckoned him over and he obeyed.

"Yes, General ver Toorde?" Stood up next to Yanov and the generals, Yuu looked smaller than he actually was. 

Patryck answered instead, "the Commissioner said you knew details about the shooting last weekend and the suspicious individual that escaped questioning?"

Yuu nodded, "I do, General. I was presented with the bullets that were used by the group, they were Red Army weapons. The same snipers that were distributed during the Danish invasion." With that, he produced one of the bullets from his pocket. It was dented in the front and had cement dust ingrained in the cracks. "It looks like this group was supplied with old weapons of ours, all but one. One officer was shot in the chest with a nine millimeter bullet. So, not ours. But what's even more is that this same bullet was found in the RedBot shooting earlier this month with  _ again _ bullets from our old models. This makes me believe this is the same group," Yuu finished with confidence. He looked to Yanov to see if he understood and he nodded in response. 

The generals took in this new information slowly. "So, there's something deeper going on?" Paul asked them both. 

Yuu looked at Yanov to answer, as if he made the same claim before. "I believe so," he said simply. "I was informed that two members of the group hid in a store right after the event."

"There's a network protecting them, I see," Patryck concluded. Yanov nodded in agreement. Before Paul said anything, Patryck motioned for their dismissal, "well, thank you for informing us. Let us know if anything new comes out. I trust that you are doing everything you can?"

"Yes, General Dadulewicz." 

And with that, Specialist Tann and Commissioner Kutajar left without another word. They went off to discuss things further in Yanov's office. When Patryck turned back to his companion, Paul was staring directly at him with a know-it-all expression. Sounding egotistical, he gloated, "so nothing's going on, huh?"

"Okay, listen-"

"No no, it's fine, really," he held up a hand, "you were right Pat, we should really just stay out of it I mean- clearly nothing's going on."

"Save it."

"Uhuh," they idly stood alone in the lobby, unsure of their next move. "Sooo, do you believe me now? We gotta tell Red about it, right?"

Patryck looked at the ground in thought. He considered multiple things; the most important being if he should bring it to the attention of his commander now, or to wait until there was more information to be presented. In the end, it was better to be safe than sorry. This group, whoever they were, had access to weaponry. They had some pretty stellar sharpshooters, and they managed to get past both fleshed police officers and artificial robot hunters and be gone without a trace. There was something off about this, and perhaps it was time to crack down on it before it became a bigger problem than it needed to be. "Alright, yeah. Yeah we should."

The office of Red Leader's was planted at the top of the central tower. On dreary fall days like this one, its peak was high enough to look above the low hanging foggy clouds. This was where he spent most of his time, controlling Europe from his desk and ruining the lives of millions with the wave of his finger. Few were allowed inside without scheduling an appointment beforehand, and the generals were two of them. Walking passed the receptionist outside the door, they didn't even acknowledge her.

When they walked in, the smell of tobacco flooded their senses. It made Paul feel at ease in the familiarity and comfort of the smell, but it got caught in Patryck's throat and he had to stop himself from coughing. Without wasting time Patryck took a step forward, Paul took out his pack of cigarettes to join his commander. "Red Leader, Sir, there's something you need to hear."

-

Tom took the first swig of his vodka for the night. It was going to be dawn soon, in just a couple hours the sun would rise and he would be expected to be at his day job for an eight hour shift. He would only get to spend a few hours at the base today before inevitably going back to the job he had just come home from. In the mornings he had odd part-time hours stacking boxes and moving products at a shipping warehouse and at night he worked at a gas station. It was boring and barely more than minimum wage, but it was what put him through life. Going from part-time job to part-time job was how he stayed afloat for as long as he's been an adult. He couldn't manage a full-time job, it would take too much time away from the order and even if it didn't- he never got a college degree to be hired. He was ashamed to be forty-two and still working jobs teenagers should be getting, but he tried not to think about it. In the little amount of time he was in his studio apartment smack dab in the middle of sixth court that he called home, he drank and slept. It was an old habit that wouldn't go down without a fight. These days, he had to ration himself a certain amount of alcohol per night in order to stay sane. But he slipped up a lot, what could he say? The rations were split up into convenient cups that he could just keep taking, and taking, and taking…

Today had been an especially slow and hard night. Tom thought that with his head full of ideas and worries, it would go fast. But to his mistake, it just felt like hours of anxiety and boredom, alone with his thoughts with no one to talk to about them. He had no one to come home to either, just the silence and stillness of the apartment.

His feet ached, so he crashed onto the couch with his bottle in hand. Kicking his legs up on the coffee table, he clicked on the TV. The holographic screen contrasted against the darkness in blaring brightness. The computer in his visor automatically adjusted the colors so that it didn't give him a headache. His stomach grumbled but he didn't have much food in the house. Usually he ate at the base or on the way home from work but today he didn't think about it. He was too tired to leave again, so it looked like he had to wait until the morning. _Oh alcohol, take my problems away..._ he thought, chugging more. Maybe if he was drunk, he wouldn't think so much. For once he just wanted to relax, there was too much going on these days. He hardly caught a break since getting in contact with Edd again. He was grateful things were picking up, and he was happy to see Edd and Matt again, but now there was no time to stop and take a step back. Everything was so immediate, so _necessary._ People relied on him and needed him to make decisions. Quick decisions on the fly that he couldn't predict the outcome of. Medi was right, it was a terrible idea to try and assassinate one of the generals. They didn't know what they were doing, they didn't have enough information, nor the supplies to do it. How would they even infiltrate their headquarters? They would need disguises for sure, and that meant fake IDs, uniforms, up-to-date weapons…it was impossible. _What am I thinking?_ He took another drink. _I don't know what I'm doing,_ people could die because of his orders. It would be all his fault. _I never know what I'm doing._ They would all finally realize that he was a bad leader, they'd disband the order, he'd be nothing. _I_ am _nothing…_

The sound of the breaking news jingle on the news station broke out of the boring everyday stuff. "This is Mary on Station 4 News with a very important announcement. At 5:43am on October 11th, Mayor Dean Chanohan of New York City has officially surrendered control over to the Red Nations. Soldiers of the army are now flooding the area and officials have begun instating Red Nation law on the city." Tom's eyes were glued to the screen now. Next it showed a clip of ex-mayor Chanohan signing his position over to a Red Army official. Surrounding him were soldiers with rifles at their chests, making sure no one intruded on this decision. Chanohan and the official were exchanging words, and the ex-mayor continuously nodded his head as if he was being told multiple things to be understood. 

New York City was dubbed America's 'pocket of freedom' by many, as it was the only area left on the east coast that refused to give in to Red Army command. It was specially protected with United States military forces, and until now it was supplied through helicopter drops to aid its people. Similar to how West Berlin operated during the Cold War, it was surrounded on all sides by Red Army control. To hear it fall was like hearing that America itself had fallen. But Tom knew the Americans better than that, they've been fighting off the army slowly for almost a decade. Surely the mayor gave up the city as a strategic play? He could only hope that this is all a step in some sort of grand plan on the path to take back their freedom. 

The news reporter continued on, "...means that America's unoccupied border rests at St. Paul, Minnesota to the north and forty miles east of Jackson, Mississippi to the south…" Tom could hardly believe his ears. He grabbed his phone and dialed up the only American he knew. 

"Wha…?  _ Tom? _ What is it, it's almost six in the morning-"

"Medi, are you watching the news?" Tom sobered up real fast.

"I don't think you caught the six in the morning part," he yawned.

"New York City has fallen."

There was silence. Tom felt uncomfortable in the static haze of the phone. "...What?" Medi's voice was a mix of many emotions. 

"Turn on the news, the mayor- well- ex-mayor I guess just signed over the city. It's gone. They surrendered."

His voice became hoarse, "what are you...talking about…" Tom heard a click on the other side and a voice from his TV. It was a different station but everyone was talking about it now, and within minutes Medi caught wind of the news too. "I don't understand." Neither of them spoke for a few minutes, they were together in their grief, yet alone with their own thoughts. "But...they were protected."

"Chanohan gave up the city, I don't think they fought through the national guard."

"Why?" Medi found his voice, "why." Now he sounded angry. "That's so fucking stupid. Why would he give it up like that? They were  _ fine. _ Who thought this was a good idea?" Tom could hear the cracking in his words, like he could feel the lump in his own throat. He hated to imagine what it would look like to see Medi cry and hoped he wouldn't break down. 

"I'm so sorry, Medi. I-"

"You know what? You were right." He paused for a second, "we can't waste any more time. You said you wanted a sign to go on that mission right?"

"Yes," Tom approached cautiously.

"Well, here you go then. This is it right here- this is your sign."


End file.
